In the tradition of Westkeep, those about to head out on an expedition must practice bout. Herein tells the practice bout between the Lizard Man Drago and Sir Aramek in the palace courtyard before their excursion to Thracia.

When Aramek hears Sir Fingol, he starts to laugh, then says, “Sure, why not? But first,” then to Rain, “would you mind giving Snoop a perch on which to enjoy what’s to follow?”

He then softly invokes his Mage Armor, telling himself it’s “just in case” and then yells over to Drago, “So, budding sorcerer, what do you say? I choose my quarter staff and I’ll try not to be too hard on you.”

He then winks at Drago, not sure whether he understands the human nuance of a wink, and takes a battle defence stance, in readiness for Drago’s onslaught.

Long spear in hand, Drago walks into the ring and bows with respect saying, “You’ll need all the help you can get, Master,” as he mimics a human wink.

“Ha!” laughs Newt. “Did you see that wink? Drago is learning to be human, ha ha!” she says to those around her, amused at Drago’s wit.

“God help him,” comes Fingol’s dry reply.

“I’ll put a few gold down on Aramek. Who says otherwise?” Fingol offers.

Rain laughs then says, “Not that I want to bet against my friend here, but I’ll take that wager. Worse that can happen is I loose a couple gold, not like Ill let myself get punched in the eye again.”

Indranil looks over at Rain and says, “A fool and their money are soon parted.”

Aramek moves in without a moment, knocking away Drago’s spear point
and swinging at his head. Drago ducks away and is kept on the
defensive as he skirts the edge of the combat ring blocking Aramek’s
staff and trying to open up some distance so he can use the spear
effectively. Aramek succeeds in striking Drago on the head with his
padded staff and easily bats away Drago’s counterstrike. Aramek
presses the attack but Drago finally gets away from the edge of the
ring and backs off towards the center where he has more room to
maneuver. Again, however, Aramek gets past the spear point to take a
swing at Drago but the lizardfolk warrior blocks the strike with the
butt of his spear. Drago pushes Aramek away and backs off quickly. He
stabs but the spear point is deflected by the invisible field of force
that surrounds the half-elven sorcerer. Aramek moves in again, once
more batting aside Drago’s spear to get close and drub the lizardfolk
warrior in the ribs, he barely seems to feel it however, as the blow
is absorbed by his thick scales. Drago backs off and stabs out again,
but Aramek blocks it once more. A second strike hits, and the padded
spear point knocks Aramek in the head, but it doesn’t stop him for
long. He shakes his head clear and moves in again, slipping past the
spear point and swinging low to crack Drago in the right shin. Drago
keeps backing away until he reaches the edge of the other side of the
ring from where he started, his spear point menacing Aramek until he
stabs downward and catches the sorcerer painfully in the left foot.
Aramek responds by leaping forward with his staff held before him in
both hands attempting to push Drago out of the ring. Drago proves too
strong for him. Drago pushes him away with his greater size and bulk.
Drago edges away from the edge of the ring, concentrating only on
blocking Aramek’s blows until again his back is to the center of the
ring and he can back off rapidly and open up space between them. When he gets the space he needs, Drago lunges back in with his spear and catches Aramek right in the center of his chest. Even the mage armor is unable to deflect the blow, and Aramek falls on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

GM: Fingol loses two gold to Rain. This was an interesting fight. It
lasted 8 rounds and because of the longspear Drago used, he had to
keep backing away to get space to use it effectively. At the same
time, Aramek had to risk an attack of opportunity everytime he tried
to close the distance – giving Drago two attempted hits to every one
of Arameks. Aramek’s mage armor and Drago’s scales also balanced out
in terms of armor. Also, they both had roughly the same amount of hit
points. It was a very even match. The warriors can see that Aramek and Drago are competent fighters, but they wouldn’t last long against a real Fighter or Ranger (or Paladin or Rogue). Still, each of them
could hold their own long enough to get rescued in a melee combat.

Indranil: “Nice match you two. I am glad I didn’t bet, Rain would have
been two more coins richer!”

Rain steps in front of Fingol with her hand held out behind her back, attempting to collect without Aramek seeing.

To further the jest, she calls out to Aramek as he returns “Good job my friend, you almost had him! I was rooting for you!”

Aramek gets up, brushes himself off and goes over to Drago saying, “Excellent, Drago. Thank you for the bout and helping me see my limitations.

Now you see why, even though we might be able to take care of ourselves in the short run, we magic wielders are for better at attacking from a distance and keeping the enemy otherwise occupied so that the real fighters can move in a do some lethal damage.”

And with that Aramek offers his hand to Drago, while Snoops bounds off Rain’s shoulder to once again sit on Aramek’s shoulder, ready to protect him, should Drago be ungracious.

Fingol takes out the gold, holds it high over Rain’s head. “ONE” he says as he drops it into her hand. “TWO” as he lets go of the other.

Rain smiles wickedly and turns around, now facing Fingol with only an intimate few inches between them. Whispering she says “Thank you my lord, it has been a pleasure.”

“Never mix gold and pleasure.” Fingol smirks

Aramek smiles at Rain, whose back is to Fingol and calls out, “and it’s a good thing you weren’t betting on me to win. You’d be out some coppers at this point.”

Drago smiles at the others and says, “I’m better fighting tooth and nail.”

Newt chides Lady Rain playfully. “Such deception! Why not just tell him, thus motivating him to practice more?”