Let's just call it an Experiment!

“Ever heard of the mighty Arena where all the mighty warriors compete at once and then the mightiest of them all gets all the bragging rights?” Log1c couldn’t help but tease Pratap all the time. That’s the most important role he ever played anyways and being the strategist, he indeed was quite witty.

“Yeah I am aware! That’s the main battle for which I am training right now! We need to come up with a perfect plan because this sure will not be easy!” Pratap replied and for the first time, he didn’t seem to be in the joking mood. Even though apart from being the ferocious warrior, he’d be the guy who some people call ‘full of life and fun’!

“We need to ensure that we do not lose our own Castle to any of the opponents to begin with. Then our next agenda should be strengthening our position by taking control of some of the Strongholds and finally the Glory City!” SFy hopped in with the most obvious plan and pointed out exactly the basics which needed to be done. But it kinda made sense as she was clearly not one of the smartest minds and despite knowing all that, Log1c, Pratap and basically everyone just couldn’t control their laugh but they did their best.

“Well, that’s just the best way to put it out. I don’t think any one of us could’ve done it any better!” Pratap responded with his devilish smile and that just made everyone burst into a big laughter.

The arena was expected to be highly competitive because unlike the usual wars, here everyone would have five opponents instead of one! Each house, comprising 10 warriors alike, would try to exert their dominance. And as soon as they entered the battlefield, it wasn’t a pleasant view. 

“Oh crap! I can spot quite a few ferocious warriors like dra999, Stunnz, Piligrim7497 and CrimsonMage” Log1c was the first one to notice and point out the misery while Pratap still seemed pretty relaxed.

“Oh it’s fine! We have Mandy so he can take care of our castle and let’s deal with things one by one. Let’s not overwhelm ourselves from the very beginning!” Pratap was uncharacteristically cool and relaxed and seemed pretty confident.

The war began and everyone marched out to grab the castle and the Strongholds.The start was pretty much even as almost every house focused on building the ‘Trading Posts’ to get some extra points while they all waited for the Altars to open.

“The real tussle is about to begin, guys! Let’s focus on strengthening our trading by getting ‘Trading Bonus’ if possible. Our second agenda should be on strengthening our cavalry stats so that it would benefit both me and Mandy!” Pratap made the final announcement as he grabbed his sword, mounted his horse and rode out to grab one of those Altars.

And then there it was! The crazy war kicked in as dra999 grabbed one of the Altars. The idea was to grab as many of those as possible but if only that was possible. Pratap decided to take on dra999 but he was totally unaware of what he was about to face there.

As it turned out, it wasn’t one of the best decisions and that made one thing pretty clear, it might be best to avoid dra999 going forward.

“Alright so here’s the deal! Let’s ignore dra999 and that might be better for us. Strategically, if he’s stuck in an Altar, it’s good for us. That way he won’t be able to target us back!” Pratap was definitely hurting from the beat but he did make a strong point.

“Yeah of course! And let’s not forget the fact that you suck big time and couldn’t win” Log1c made sure that he didn’t let any moment slide.

ФeниKс had taken an Altar but Pratap made sure that he knocked him out of there and took back the control of the Altar. But that wasn’t it. It was all chaotic as on the other side, his fellow warriors, 1MoreTime, DuNCaN and Arkasha were being bullied by the likes of dra999, CrimsonMage and Piligrim7497.

“This isn’t really looking promising to be honest. We somehow manage to grab one Altar but then we lose 2 more. We need to give more support to Pratap and Mandy“ Log1c pointed out as clearly other warriors were struggling a bit but that was already expected.

“We’re trying but even if three of us reinforce an Altar, it’s still not enough hold up against the likes of Stunnz and wood lord” SFy was already feeling the heat of all the action but things were just starting to kick-off. A lot more was about to follow!

And finally the spirits were lifted! Pratap and Mandy managed to get some wins but Mandy’s win over dra999 was epic because it gave them a glimmer of hope.

“The center would open in some time and eventually, now we know that our best chance would be to place Mandy inside the castle and hopefully if we all reinforcement as per the best of our ability, we’d be able to hold it long enough” Log1c had cracked the code because Mandy was the only one who had won at least one fight against dra999.

The roller coaster continued but the real stress over the Glory City deepened with every passing second. The Dragonpits and the Merchant Camps were under the control of House Targaryen (dra999) and House Baratheon (Stunnz). The only chance now for House Greyjoy (Pratap & company) was to ensure that the Glory City was totally under control but the real challenge would be → how would they manage to challenge and compete against everyone at once? The chances seemed pretty good too but all they had to do was ensure that Mandy gets inside the Glory City somehow and then they’d have to defend with him.

“Alright! It’s showtime guys! Let’s get those rallies up and running and let’s try to land Mandy inside the Great City” Pratap declared in a stern voice and his tone alone made SFy a lot more nervous than she already was.

“It’s gonna be alright. Do not worry too much about it and just for once, and for the love of God, just remember to reinforce the rallies” Log1c joked as soon as he got that opportunity and well it was no secret to anyone how slow and lost SFy was when it came down to reinforcements.

DuNCaN rallied the Glory City but didn’t manage to overcome the NPC soldiers. But then the two most important rallies were meant to be from Pratap and Mandy.

“God I hope we manage to grab the Glory City at least once. This is stressing and on top of it, seeing dra999 marching there as well, I am kinda freaking out now as well” Log1c could no longer keep his tensions covered.

“Yeah, it looks like his army will reach the Glory City before ours as well. So expecting him to lose to the NPCs isn’t gonna be sensible so let’s just hope me and Mandy can win it back from him” Pratap, just like anyone else seemed stressed out about the outcome as well but they needed to act confident at least.

And there it was! The moment of truth and pain and disaster. Both the rallies landed one after the other and the outcome was pretty much the same - a total annihilation!

“Well well well, looks like we cannot get the Glory City. So, now the idea should be to forget about being ‘Supreme Conqueror’ and focus on getting as high as possible” Pratap was trying to salvage something out of something although all the preparation hadn’t boiled down to the expectations.

“We’ve lost the Altars and the entire map control either. Funny how it all turned upside down in these last few moments as we shifted our focus from the Altars to the Glory City” Log1c could no longer keep his disappointment under the cover.

“Yupp! And in this whole process, we’ve lost the Altars and also couldn’t get the Glory City. But this is the learning curve I guess, we know better for the next time now” Pratap was trying to be optimistic but quite honestly it wasn’t making anyone feel any better.

“I know I am not much help out there but I gotta say that I am super proud of how Pratap and Mandy fought tonight and if we would’ve had a bit more help, the outcome might have been totally different” SFy couldn’t help but admire the mighty warriors.

“As much as I love you admiring me like this, but when you have the likes of dra999 or Stunnz, there’s not much you can do I guess but I wish Log1c too would see it the way you do” Pratap was flattered and of course wanted a bit more praise.

“Yeah sure sure! No matter how bad you do, we all must shower love on you all the time” Log1c kept taunting Pratap as ever.

“I guess I need not say anything at all. I’d let the records speak for themselves” Pratap was too proud and well, he had given his best throughout.

Pretty soon the outcome was determined but it was not all bad. There were plenty of lessons learnt and going forward that would definitely help them.

“Hey guys, I know we expected more and the outcome is not ideal but rest assured, I promise that we’d do a lot better. And also, at least we didn’t finish in the bottom half” Log1c was kinda being quirky and Pratap was so much in shock as he just couldn’t believe what he saw and heard today.

“Since when have you been so easy-going and optimistic? I mean, the Log1c I know and remember is too strict and kinda a pain in the… you know what I mean, don’t you?“ Pratap kept his arms around Log1c’s shoulders while all the others stood there laughing it off. 

Clearly they hadn’t won the fight tonight but they sure did manage to win lots of hearts and most importantly, fighting alongside so many new warriors, this indeed wasn’t too bad an outcome! And as the dust settled, Pratap couldn’t once again be spotted as he had already taken his spot in the tavern and this time, even Log1c and others had accompanied him.