Arena of Honor Round 2 Match 4... For All the Marbles...

As yall know the Shenanigans squad has been on the struggle bus this season. Our best showing in the first three matches saw us in 4^th place. This has been difficult considering how well we did last season. Little by little each match we have stove to do better than the previous match. This would mean we would need to hit 3^rd place in this match. It seemed an impossible task, but we were all eager to give our all and try. We were all together again for this match, each of us with a nervous excitement of what would lay ahead.

For the first time ever, we went to the House Baratheon.

I always glance around the map to get a feel for the players when I first get on the map, I was surprised to see a friendly face AGAIN lol.

This would be the second time in a row I would face my alliance mate in the arena of honor. There was a member from WTF…

There were many alliance tags on the map that I did not recognize. I began to think maybe this match wouldn’t be so bad, after all we are just aiming for third. Not that we wouldn’t take first if an opportunity presented itself, but baby steps. When the timer ticked down, we began taking strongholds while Ary secured our Clan Castle. It felt like we were making good progress on the first set of strongholds. We moved on to the next set of strongholds and took the first altar that opens at the same time. Like always, I began to mess with the altars of our neighbors to the north, The Starks…

The Stark clan launched some attacks on me trying to get it back, but I was able to hold on. As more altars opened, we took those too. Some we held; some were lost…It had to be him lol.

When the Dragon Pits opened, Vegeta and I each took one.

Securing two for the team. I am still not sure I understand how they help, but hey it’s fun to hit things am I right? Lol My alts husband Sh0t0 secured our mine for the team once the mines had opened, as the City of Glory is not far behind. So I began to recall my fighting line in preparation of launching a rally the second it opened. I wanted the City, if only for a moment lol.

The second the bubble dropped I called for a rally as there were a decent amount of NPC troops in the castle. A rally would help cut through them and if the Old Gods were on my side, they would allow me to swoop in early and capture it. Once everyone was securely in the rally I launched. Half of me hoped we would be the first to take the castle. The other half of me prayed someone else would take the castle and I could just hit them and take it. Hopefully a nice juicy spear lol. Alas it wasn’t meant to be, my rally hit, and we took the castle.

One of the other clans had gotten the catapults so I was under a constant barrage of fire, that was eating into my troops. I was fielding the attacks coming in pretty well. The losses were mounting fast though. In that moment, it happened. Knocked out of the castle by a strong cav player…. Stoopid Cavs lol

Vegeta saw what had happened, launched an attack and took the City back from that pesky cav warrior. Before too long he was knocked out too. I launched a solo attack and sped into the City. My troops were bloodthirsty and ready for war. I figured me running face first into the city without scouting would end badly but I did it anyways for the lols.

Wait what?

I was sending discord messages to the team… REINFORCE MEEEEEEEEEEE. The troops came rolling in. We began taking hits from NPCs, players and catapults alike. Just let me hold it long enough to get the bubble, I prayed silently. If I can hold till the bubble, then we will get a nice influx of points. Even if I couldn’t keep it the match, those extra points would help us with our goal of third place. I am not sure I took a breath watching the countdown till we got the protective bubble. Trying to will the time to move faster. Seriously, why does time seem to slow down when you need it to hurry lol. M1lf sent a encouraging message, “Just a bit longer hold on”. The catapults were pounding my troops. I was dangerously low…. HURRRRRRRYYYYYY.

Finally, the bubble appeared, and I could take a breath. There was still the matter of my low number of troops. Only around 25% of my troops remained. What do I do? I wasn’t sure if the castle would remain if I disbanded to refresh troops, but I would be kicked soon after the bubble left, and the attacks resumed. I sent messages to the team. “My troops are low, I am going to recall, speed home and refresh the troops, be ready to reinforce again.” If only people read messages in the midst of the battle lol. M1lf and Vegeta both saw me disband and thought I had lost my ever loving mind. They began to march with their fighters. Had they listened they would not have panicked, when I disbanded the castle it remained both bubbled and ours. M1lf sped in and took the building…. “What are you doing?” I yelled.

I was in a bit of a shock as we usually all work so seamlessly together we don’t really have to speak…. I hoped this wasn’t a harbinger of what was to come. We had to get third dang it. The bubble had put us in first, but I was still unsure that it would stay that way. M1lf began defending against the enemies, soon finding he was in the same predicament as I had been. You see, fillers can leave the castle, replenish troops and come back, but the holder of the castle can’t. Eventually he fell to the barrage of attacks and another player took the castle. I sent a solo attack and sped in…

Back in the castle, and not having the benefit of the bubble, it was hard to hold the castle. My reinforcements came to assist, knowing I would need all the help I could get. The catapults were hitting hard regularly. The NPC’s are relentless. The players began to attack. I imagined they sensed my ever-diminishing army. The match was almost over, we just had to make sure no one else took the castle with time to get the bubble. I held on attack after attack wondering which hit would be the one to unceremoniously send me home.

Yup stooped cav lol. I sent a raven to Vegeta….. “It’s the strong cav guy, get him. GOGOGO”.

YESSSSSSS I screamed.

Now hold it, the match is almost over. We rushed to reinforce. There was only a few minutes left. Vegeta began to field the attacks, which seemed to be coming in faster. Likely the desperation of doing something, anything to change their fortunes. I was a tactic I knew well lol.

At the end of the match, Vegeta had kept the castle

and an excitement grew in the faction chat. No one could believe their eyes as we saw the final standings.

We had exceeded the goal of third and somehow managed to hold on to first place. Despite our hiccups we finally tasted a true victory. Will it be enough to allow us to finish King or Glory King? Well friends, that remains to be seen. Having had a string of harsh defeats, the win felt amazing. I sat back thinking of all that had just happened. I realized how important it was for us as a team to have not given up ever, despite a rocky start. We do have some room for improvement for our communication. Maybe the answer to that is for us to start using voice chat.