ARENA OF HONOR | SEASON 2 ROUND 13 | WIT VS BRUTE STRENGTH.

Welcome Lord and Ladies to the thirteenth round of the Arena of Honor, today we will have a spectacle like no other. Teams have come far and wide throughout Westeros to show their prowess for your entertainment. One of those teams is led by NO REAL, a hero of many and thorn to others, he has made it his life’s goal to prove himself, not just to himself but to all of Westeros. NO REAL’s team have been in a rut of late and wish to finally show what they are made of. Will this be the day NO REAL and his comrades rise from the ashes or will their enemies once again best them at the final hurdle, stay with us Lords and Ladies to see the exciting escapades of the hero that never was. 

NO REAL has been going through somewhat of a fixation with Trading Posts of late and once again has decided to give it another shot. “Altars of the Maiden are the objective today, Altars of the Father is not bad as well, I know Watch Towers have been a problem for us but surely we won’t get an entire arena going for Trading Posts again, right?” NO REAL was hoping for a bit of luck to finally go his way. “One of our problems have been, one team taking all the Watch Towers and catapults and running away with the win but this time, we will make sure to focus any teams using such a strategy, “ChAoS was the second in command and knew the power of first capture points, which the Watch Towers provide but thought that taking enemy altars would accrue them enough points to catch up in the long run. 

Since the team had been working together for so long, they knew the drill but that would be tested today as two of their comrades didn’t show up and they had to fill the team at the last minute. “The new members will reinforce altars we ping on the battlefield, Beyond you may become our most important warrior, take our clan castle, I have a feeling today, we may be getting hit with offensive Strongholds, “ChAoS could sense something in the air and took all the precautions necessary. As for Arena of Honor, it starts with six teams who fight for objectives on the map, each objective provides a first capture amount and then points over time, the team with the most points at the end of the match wins. Beyond could see something was troubling ChAoS but he went along with the plan without questioning his good friend. The question lingered in the mind, would their fixation on Altars and Trading Posts finally lead to glory or would another team’s offensive Stronghold strategy once again spell their defeat?

Finally, the teams enter the arena and scout each others threat levels, “House Greyjoy seems to be the favorites, they have the strongest warriors in terms of raw power, the rest we can handle, “NO REAL knew most of the warriors on House Greyjoy and was cursing his luck he has been drawn with such formidable opponents. As the first Strongholds opened up, it was becoming clear that House Baratheon was building offensive Strongholds and they were placed to left of House Stark, therefore their Clan Castle would be attacking House Starks. “Beyond you have to make sure, we don’t lose our Clan Castle, their troops will become stronger the longer the match goes on, you must warn us, if things look bad for us, so we can reinforce in time,” ChAoS has seen other teams lose their Clan Castle from a winning position and didn’t want his team to have the same fate. “There’s a second team building offensive Strongholds but are further away from us, these two teams must be focused, House Baratheon are building infantry Strongholds, while House Targaryen are building cavalry Strongholds, one of them will be correct, which ever it is, make sure they pay with their altars,” Beyond made sure his comrades knew the stakes but it was more for himself, since his Clan Castle would be at risk for most of this match. 

House Baratheon led by the brilliant DonneR2K, “our Strongholds will win us the match, there’s only two of us building offensive Strongholds and House Stark’s Clan Castle is at risk as well,” DonneR2K could see many win conditions, he only feared the loss of the Glory City but was hoping other teams would help them reset the structure. Meanwhile, House Stark faced a dire situation, their strategy, focused heavily on Altars and their Clan Castle, now seemed precarious. With House Baratheon zeroing in on offensive Strongholds and targeting their Clan Castle, House Stark would have to keep their eye on another objective, leading to pressure and possible mistakes. 

Another contender for the match would be House Tyrell, led by the infamous Takisobie, “Trading Posts is where we will start but our main objective is the Glory City, once I take it, make sure the reinforcements are on point, “Takisobie had won many rounds of Arena of Honor using the same tactic. Would this be another victory for House Tyrell and their infamous leader or would the other Houses finally learn to counter Takisobie’s brilliant but familiar strategy?

Finally, we come to House Greyjoy, led by the powerhouse GeorgeBylis, he planned on using his mighty warriors to bully the rest of the teams, “we clearly have the stronger warriors on the battlefield, the Glory City won’t be tough to secure, just keep the other teams busy, you know what to do,” GeorgeBylis believed in his doctrine of power over everything and his confidence oozed out of him as he smirked while preparing himself for battle. As the first ten minutes rushed by, everyone knew their strategies and goals, two teams would be waiting for Watch Towers, while the rest would rush for altars, it’ all coming down to wit versus brute strength, a tale as old as time. 

NO REAL began his altar hunting immediately, “reinforce quickly, House Tyrell also need altars for their strategy, so let’s slow them down,” NO REAL would have gone for House Baratheon’s altars but they have a great defence, so he was left with what he had. “Help me take back our altar, we can’t lose the first one, “Takisobie didn’t want others so see them as easy pickings, so he immediately began a rally to take back his Altar of the Stranger, which forced NO REAL to abandon the altar. “Let them have it, Altar of the Maiden is what we really want anyway, “ChAoS was coming up with excuses, House Stark didn’t manage to take any altars from their enemies, which could be seen as a bad start with their strategy, all eyes would now turn on the Watch Towers and the exciting drama that would come from it. 

The time had come for House Baratheon and House Targaryen to see which of them chose the correct offensive Strongholds, the coveted first capture points would elevate the victor and secure top three positions. “Even if we take the towers first, House Targaryen counter us with their cavalry, so we will end up losing them but the first capture points will carry us further than the points over time,” DonneR2K could see the match unfold in his mind and would make decisions, depending upon what he thought would happen. Finally, both Clan Castle’s forces made their way to the towers, each team waited with baited breath. “We got it, so my plan now goes into effect, the catapults are ours as well, spearmen will destroy their cavalry but they will take the structures from us, when their Strongholds attack again,” DonneR2k was happy to see spearmen inside the towers but knew the hard part was yet to come. 

While House Baratheon celebrated their initial win, NO REAL went back to House Tyrell’s altars, “this is an important altar, we can’t afford to lose it, even if Takisobie rallies, I will try and defend it, “NO REAL had his eye on the prize and each Altar of the Maiden would one step closer to victory. As House Tyrell defended against the onslaught of House Stark, the Dragonpits would soon open up, creating another combat zone for the teams, “they seem to really want those altars, we will prepare for the Dragonpits instead, “Takisobie was a wise old fox and wouldn’t be dragged into meaningless antics. 

Minutes before the Glory City opened it gates, the Dragonpits would now be the main point of contention, “take the Dragonpits while we can, House Targaryen and House Baratheon will use their Strongholds to take them, so take them just before the Glory City opens, so they can fight for catapults instead, “ChAoS would use the attracting force of the Glory City to take the rest of the battlefield, it would be risky but the aura of reaching higher in the ranking pushed him to take such acts. “The Dragonpits are important but the Glory City is the only way for us to make a comeback,” YOGY, the leader of House Targaryen could see only one way out, his team found themselves in last place as they were unable to take any Watch Towers and now all they could hope for was a lucky Glory City win condition. 

This was the moment most teams dread, it can make or break your match, the Glory City had finally come into play, “continue taking altars and leave the Glory City to me, “NO REAL planned to help rallies from other Houses reset the Glory City, while his team continued taking altars around the battlefield. The mood in the arena shifted as all eyes would turn towards the Glory City, it would be House Tyrell that sent the first rally towards the objective, “ we know rallies will come but if we don’t secure the Glory City, the best we can do is fourth, so it’s up to us to change that,” Takisobie began his pep talk as his rally took the Glory City and now House Tyrell would need to defend it for another four minutes to fully capture it. It only took thirty seconds for House Tyrell to lose the Glory City to House Greyjoy and another two minutes for House Baratheon to have control of the Glory City, each time NO REAL would send solo attacks in between catapult fire and rallies hitting, making sure to weaken it for other teams to take. 

While the gravitational pull of the Glory City took focus from each team, House Stark were relentless with their altar hunting strategy, “great job on taking altars, we have taken second place from House Greyjoy, just with our altars but I must warn you about the Clan Castle, I’m starting to lose troops, we need more reinforcements in our Clan Castle,” Beyond could see the rallies hitting the Clan Castle get stronger and was worried he would lose if more attention was not put into it. “The Mineshafts are about to open, start focusing on those now, altars are no longer the priority, “ChAoS wanted to pivot as altar would not give the same number of points as Mineshafts would. As the final fifteen minutes of the match come into fruition, House Stark found themselves in touching distance of House Baratheon, whom were losing their lead consistently. 

As all sides continue to fight for the Glory City, resetting the objective was becoming a recurrence, some teams got frustrated and started fighting House Stark for the Mineshafts, “it seems every team wants to fight for the Glory City making it impossible to capture right now, perhaps waiting till the final ten minutes would surprise them, “GeorgeBylis planned on taking the Glory City while others were preoccupied with other objective, giving a false sense of security. 

As House Greyjoy schemed in the shadows, House Baratheon continued sending waves of attacks on House Stark’s Clan Castle, “we need to make sure we don’t lose our Clan Castle in these final moments of the match, “NO REAL turned his attention to their Clan Castle, no longer worrying about the Glory City, which is what House Greyjoy were waiting for. With only 7 minutes remaining in the match, House Greyjoy with GeorgeBylis leading the rally to take home the prize. “We have taken the Glory City again, everyone else should be drained by now, don’t defend our altars anymore, all or nothing on the Glory City,” GeorgeBylis expected the win at the start and didn’t lose faith in his team with an all or nothing play. “Begin the rallies on the Glory City, we can’t let them take the win from us,” DonneR2K still believed his team could win, they only had to reset the Glory City, one last time.

It all came down to this, four minutes remained in the match and House Greyjoy only needed to hold on for another minute to full capture the Glory City and take the win. It was House Tyrell with House Targaryen and House Baratheon with rallies going towards the objective, “even if we reset it now, there’s not enough time for us to fully capture it ourselves, “Takisobie questioned sending the rally in the first place but nevertheless continued anyway. The first rally to crash into the Glory City came from House Targaryen, it looked like it didn’t leave a scratch, next came Takisobie and House Tyrell, immediately helped with another solo from NO REAL, gasps started echoing in the battlefield, as even Takisobie bounced off the walls of the Glory City. “We have the win, only House Baratheon can stop us now, resend if you can, only one more rally defence,” GeorgeBylis could smell victory. As the final rally hit the Glory City, House Baratheon expected the Glory City to be reset but to their horror, House Greyjoy remained and loud cheers could be heard from their side of the battlefield. 

As the final minute ticked away, House Greyjoy left the Glory City, they left it empty as a taunt to the other teams, “we did our best today, unlucky to lose second place in the final minutes of the match to House Greyjoy,” ChAoS was angered by the last-minute collapse but knew their strategy hinged on other teams doing their part as well. “Dreaded Watch Towers and Glory City stopped us from gaining more fame points, it’s fine, you can win them all, “NO REAL was being realistic, he knew House Greyjoy were the favorites from the beginning of the match.

On the opposite end of the battlefield, House Greyjoy would be praising their leader GeorgeBylis on the match winning decision to drop everything else for the Glory City, “great job everyone, it’s a team game and you guy’s make this easy for me, “GeorgeBylis was humble, which was a change for him but how close the match was didn’t impress him at all. The crowd roared its approval, eager to see more but they would have to wait for the next exciting clash of Arena of Honor.