the house

At the beginning of a new day of Arena of Honor, Vangark received a proposal from Pantuflo, to unite two groups, theirs and the one led by Fraant, due to the various absences in both groups. On one side would be the two of them plus Lourdes and Diavola and on the other Frant, Chayle, Latrasil and Menerayman. After some coordination, they all agreed. Bringing together the best of both teams, Vangark had very high expectations from the beginning.

The plan was clear, to fight under a strategy already tested by them, focused on transforming the Strongholds into Trading Post and capturing as many of the Maiden Altars as possible. Chayle was assigned to be in command of the defense of House Baratheon. They thought there would be no problem placing someone not as strong as them. 

For the first few minutes everything went smoothly. The construction of the Strongholds was done in an orderly fashion, and the Trading Posts began to produce points. The own altars were taken quickly, through Vangark and Lourdes, who were the strongest of the team. They were defending the altars of their territory when House Baratheon, which until then was in the hands of Chayle, was captured by the Lannisters. Latrasil was the one who gave the alert, Vangark's first instinct was to attack while others sent their scouts, but failed. Whoever held the House was with infantry, his counter. - Cav rallies - he indicated.

 Two coordinated cavalry rallies led by Fraant and Ahegon were attempted to recover it, but it was impossible. Both attacks were easily repulsed.

Frustration settled in the team. There was a tense atmosphere, even Vangark had to be called to keep calm by one of his teammates. While everyone gave ideas, he kept a few seconds of silence, -As soon as the bubble falls, we go with two cavalry rallies in front and Lourdes will go behind-, he said determined. They all agreed. In those minutes of waiting they were fighting against the Lannisters trying to prevent them from capturing the Trading Post.

When the bubble finally fell, they launched the first attack. Frant and Menerayman led two cavalry rallies, followed by an infantry one led by Lourdes. The impact of the first rally was brutal. The enemy troops were momentarily outnumbered, and managed to retake the house, but they recaptured it. But it was only for an instant, the Lourdes rally was still on its way and once again they had the House. Reinforcements with infantry were called in. The Lannisters responded instantly with SOLO attacks, and most of them were defeated. Lourdes was left with the responsibility of defending it. For a couple of minutes it looked like they might be able to hold her, but then Covya appeared with a rally.

Covya was not just any enemy. He had a combination of high level cavalry commanders. He attacked without mercy. Lourdes' troops were swept aside and House Baratheon was once again in enemy hands. It was a hard blow, but not a final one. Vangark knew it was time to act. Without wasting any time he assembled a rally. It was filled quickly to prevent reinforcements from arriving. The impact was clean and the damage considerable. He managed to drive out the enemy and take the House.

The attacks did not stop. Now that Vangark was inside, the Lannisters began to strike in solo, trying to force a constant rotation that would exhaust the defenders, but they did not do much damage, even Covya himself failed in the attempt. Seeing that it was not enough, they prepared two infantry rallies. There were only a few seconds left, one was sent first and accelerated, the other did not make it out. Vangark held on, withstood each onslaught, despite the defeat. There were enough troops left to retake the House when the protective shield appeared.

From that moment on, an all-out war for the altars broke out between the two Houses, Lannisters against Baratheons. Each building was contested as if it were the last. The teams led by Vangark and Covya were constantly rotating between fifth and sixth place. A continuous battle, altar by altar, point by point. No one was giving way.

However, as the end approached, certain mistakes began to be noticed. Some altars were neglected and lost. Other houses, which had kept a low profile for much of the confrontation, took advantage of the oversight and seized several key altars in the final minutes. They were fifth, by a razor-thin points difference.

Vangark tried to reorganize the team. He asked not to lose any more altars, some teammates were divided between reinforcing and attacking, but they lost two very close to the end. That small lack of coordination was enough to lose ground and be almost within reach of their enemies. With seconds to go, the Baratheons dropped to sixth place.

It was a blow to the team's pride, they were the best of two teams, but they lost. The taste was bitter. There was a clear feeling that more could have been done.

Once the confrontation was over, everyone met to talk. They made a difficult but necessary decision: not to continue together as a team. The individual scores of both Vangark and Lourdes were too high, which caused the matchmaking to match them against teams with far superior warriors. For those who came with Fraant, the difficulty level was too high and they felt that their contribution was minimal against opponents of that magnitude. It was not a matter of desire, but of realism.

-It was a good battle,” said Vangark at the end. And deep down, they all knew it. It may not have been the expected result, but it was worth a try.