Author Games: A Knight's Valor

Task Two: A Knight's Melee

♔ THE TASK

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the melee! It's the first day of the Tournament, the sun is hot and the crowds have gathered. The Royal Family sits in at the head of the small arena before you, waiting to judge what is to come.

A common tradition in any tournament, the melee will be a close combat battle fought between you and one other contestant. You will be placed into a small circular arena out in the hot sun, with a wide array of weapons to choose from. Just as any tiered competition would be, the person you will fight has already been chosen for you. However, we would like everyone to remember that THIS IS NOT A GROUP TASK.

In this task, we want to see not only your ability to write a fast-paced scene, but your ability to stay true to another character that has been selected for you at random. You will have to fight, but not kill—and the contest only ends when one of you surrenders. However, knights, keep in mind that the weapons you are using will be mostly close-combat tourney weapons. Not actual sharpened steel. You will receive bruises and scratches, but cutting someone's arm off is out of the question. However, feel free to be brutal. Break noses, lose teeth, this is a competition not a choreographed fight scene—it's okay to be a little violent.

The Tier:

John Tommson vs. Zenith Nadir

Renauda Lancaster vs. Mavary Valls

Tybolt Maddox vs. Oak Agra Kaci

Colette Bennett vs. Finn Silverstein

Cynesige Tolbert vs. Fennett Abernathy

Vere Lennox vs. Willow Alden

Trustin Mee vs. Aloïsa Beaumarchais

Momo Seafare vs. Eleos Eiríni

Alexis Rovel vs. Abigale Maffir

Killian Henry vs. Edmund

Keiko Kenemoto vs. Fiona Lous

Taran Gasset vs. Rhaegar

The character whose name appears next to your own will be your opponent in this round. Again, THIS IS NOT A GROUP TASK. Everyone will have to submit their own individual entry. You also do not have to win your fight, so if the odds seem not in your favor, have no fear. There's just as much honor in losing as there is winning, there's just significantly less gold.

♔ WORD COUNT

The word count for this round is 2,500 words.

♔ BALLOTS

Two ballots will be given for each player this round.

♔ DEADLINE

The deadline will be Monday, February 22, at 8:00 PM U.S Central Time. This will give you (roughly) six days to complete your entry. PLEASE NOTICE THAT THE TIME OF THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED SEVERAL HOURS. This is to give you plenty of time, and to hopefully lower the amount of extensions we have to give. In the first round, we were very lenient. However, from this point forward extensions will be looked down upon except in emergencies and any extension requested less than 24 hours before the deadline will not be given.

♔ SPONSORSHIP

"Fennett, my dear, I see great promise in you. For this task, I have taken the liberty to hunting down my finest blacksmith to make a weapon precisely to your measurements. I hope you use it well." –King Artheur

"Here, Cynseige, for you a toy. It shall help you in winning and it is up to you what it is." -Queen Melinda

"Ren, dearest knight, I see promise. True to that, I will personally see that they leave out a sword specially made for you." -Sir Adeline

"Eleos, Keiko, my two favorite people. You will have no word count for this round." –Sir Thomas

♔ THE TRAITOR'S CHALLENGES

Fennett Abernathy:  You've won the King's favor. That makes you dangerous. You cannot use you character's name in this task, unless it is spoken; use only pronouns.

John Tommson: Too smart and far too quick. You must lose your battle.

Momo Seafare: Fight as well as you can, but the Traitor has made the odds uneven. You must get two black eyes that hinder you vision temporarily/permanently.

  ♔ BALLOT CHALLENGES

Since the ballot rankings are so close together for this task, no challenge will be issued.  

♔ NAME THE TRAITOR

You will not have the option to name the Traitor in this task. Any name submitted as a guess will be immediately discarded, regardless of whether it is right or wrong.