They both ran to take up their positions in a simple line facing their opponents in the centre of the pit. Gregory couldn’t help but take a nce at his shield. It would not have been a good time to spot a crack in the hardened, weaved wood. With a blink, he cast that thought out of his head and focused on the orc opposite him before lifting his shield to lock it in beside Wrut’srger one.


    Their order had been nned as part of their falcon tactic. Nullik and Frelki stood at each end of the line, Wrut and Frun took the middle with Gregory and Ulf filling the gaps on each side of them. Since the Runts were only fielding the minimum of six warriors, the Bear ws had ced one of their number aside to watch from the seats to keep things even. It came as a relief to know that they wouldn’t be starting off outnumbered.


    The Bear ws focused on a more traditional orcish opening stance of screaming war cry’s and working each other up into enraged frenzies for their inevitable charge.


    “You know, when only one side of the fight is doing that shit they kind of look like idiots,” Nullik murmured to the rest of his pack.


    g saw the smiles spread across the faces of the Runts, and the sight brought a snarl across his own features. Without any of the traditional build-up or ceremony, he raised his arm and brought it down to signal the start of the fight. Then he slumped back in the chair of the proving master and settled in to watch another steam-rolling in the making.


    As soon as the signal was given, the Bear ws charged with their clubs held high and fresh war cries urging them on.


    Ulf watched them close in, and when they had covered half the ground between them he yelled out his firstmand.


    “Break!”


    The centre three of Frun, Wrut, and Gregory immediately tightened ranks and began a controlled march toward the charging pack. Ulf stepped back behind them. Nullik and Frelki both bolted out toward the nks of the field, away from the core group.


    The Bear ws saw the movement, and each seemed to narrow their focus onto the tightly aligned three in the centre that seemingly protected their alpha. The weak duo of Frelki and Nullik weren’t considered threats, and so none of the pack broke off to pursue them.Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.


    “Ready, guys!?” Gregory yelled out with false bravado as he stared down the oing charge. “Now!”


    The three defenders in the centre waited until the Bear ws were almost upon them before breaking into a run to meet their momentum. Gregory lifted his shield and ducked his head behind it before leaning everything he had into the push. The sh hit like the meeting of two out of control freight trains. In that moment, Gregory was d for every fall, every push, every bruise and cut he’d taken in training. Without the strength it had given him he’d have very likely almost torn his shield-arm off at the shoulder from the impact.


    Three of The Bear ws had all tried to strike him down at once, but his shield had given him enough protection to hold off the frontal attacks of the chargers. Wrut immediately shifted the edge of his shield directly into the chin of one of those attackers. Another had tried to slip around Gregory’s shield to attack his side, but had instead found himself almost nose-to-nose with a very angry Ulf instead.


    Yet it was Frun who had bought them the initial time they needed. Rather than thrusting his modified halberd at one of the Bear ws, he had shifted it off to the side at thest moment before sweeping the heavy end of the long weapon across the Bear w’s charging line. He’d timed the attack perfectly tond a devastating blow on the nk of one of his attackers that had spun the Bear w off bnce to crash into the side of his pack mates at full speed. The manoeuvre sessfully sent the entire pack off bnce and took quite a bit of momentum out of their charge.


    After the charge, Gregory swung his weapon over the top of his shield for it to connect hard with the shoulder of the orc he was facing down. The melee broke out immediately, with little time for him to collect himself. His shield arm felt numb from taking the impact of the attack, and they were immediately outnumbered by the Bear ws, leaving him giving ground and trying to hold off the attacks of three opponents at once.


    Ulf and Wrut did a great deal to help even the odds. The attacker who had tried to outnk Gregory still stubbornly seemed to insist on trying to put the human down rather than concentrate on Ulf. Ulf seemed to take this as an insult, and every time the Bear w tried to turn to hit Gregory he found Ulf’s two bats smashing against his joints. This resulted in The Runts taking the first victory of the match when the enemy saw Gregory expose the back of his head and shifted to aim a swing of his club at it. Ulf’s bats connected neatly with the back of his knee before thrusting up together on the tip of his chin. The Bear w missed the swing entirely and almost hit his pack mate before spinning aroundpletely and then falling on his face.


    Knowing that he was now not likely to get his ribs cracked from the side, Gregory lowered his shield a little and aimed several more strikes at his own opponent before offering a feint and delivering a hard kick to the inside of the orc’s leg. Realigning himself, he shoved all his weight behind his shield again and smashed into his opponent’s chest like a battering ram. The Bear w stumbled backwards, finding his knee wasn’t as stable after that kick. It gave Gregory some space to return Wrut’s favour of giving him some additional protection by smashing his bat into the side of Wrut’s opponent, the Bear w alpha.


    Frun was not faring as well. After his brilliant initial strike, he had a much more difficult time of facing down his own opponents without a shield to aid him. Wrut tried to assist him, but Frun struggled with getting the proper distance between him and the enemy to use his halberd properly. He’d taken several body blows, and one to the face that left his lip swollen and bleeding. Though he was moments away from falling, he gave his opponents a bloody grin.


    This was because Nullik and Frelki had finished encircling the Bear ws, and had leapt into the fray from the rear. Nullik announced his presence to two of Frun’s opponents by flying feet first through the air and swiftly using both of them to deliver two hard kicks to the sides of their heads. He followed through this attack byunching the end of his staff directly into the face of the third of attacker and spinning gracefully tond at his friend’s side.


    As the one who had taken a staff thrust to the face stumbled backward, he found Frelki’s long leg to sweep his feet from beneath him. She then leapt up to thrust her own staff under the favoured arm of the Bear w pack alpha to nt it hard in his armpit. With a second of their number now fallen, and half of the pack stunned, the Bear ws were forced onto the defensive.


    It didn’t matter. Gregory and Ulf easily swept around to remove the orc who had taken it as his duty to put the human in the dirt. Nullik and Frelki attacked from both sides, making two of their opponents forget that they hadn’t actually put Frun down. He stood up and lifted his halberd to deliver another crushing sweep of the weapon that took both of their opponents out of the game entirely.