Mount & Blade: Warband – Soldier of the Nords
Written By: Bruce Damon
Starting Out:
My story starts in a city called Sagoth, the capital of the Nords.
As I arrived to the city, I was attacked by a bandit, I had to react quickly or my visit in Sagoth would be a short one! My first thought was to run away, but then I thought to myself; "Do I really want to run from a small bandit?" I decide to fight the bandit and maybe make him quit the fight. I reach to my sword and right when my hand touches the hilt I see an arrow flying right near my left cheek; almost hitting my bloody eye! He had a bow with him so I couldn't stay back and hope he approaches to me so I could fight him with my sword and shield and also the option to fall back would be a bad one as he could shoot me in the back as I run away; Fighting was my only choice.
I ran towards him yelling and asking him to give up the fight and walk away but he wouldn't give up, In a swift move I swing my sword and cut his hand as I ask again and beg him to quit this pointless battle but he just wouldn't give up..
I then hit him again with a swing to his head as it is cut off and falls to the ground; I stop and sit near his body with my bloody sword in my hands. A few minutes later I am approached by a merchant who asks if I'm ok, he tells me the bandit I killed was a known thief and murderer which gave me a bit of comfort thinking I'm not a bad person.
The merchant then takes me to his house and gives me a cup of milk and some bread; he treated me well and allowed to stay for the night.
The next morning I wake up and see my host has already made me breakfast and is sitting near the table waiting for me to come eat with him.
As we are feeding on a nice piece of bread and some cheese he tells me about his young brother who wanted to help the town who was being harassed by a group of bandits who the guy I killed was part of.
He asks me to round up some man and try and rescue him from the bandits who he thinks have him captive. I tell him" As thankful I am for your hospitality I must decline, I am a nobody in all towns in this area, I'm poor and unskilled, I don't have what it takes to do such task but once I will have the needs for it, I promise you I will help you."
I finish up my food, thank the nice merchant for his hospitality and leave as I cannot live under his roof forever.
I was now walking the streets with no plan at all, I know no one and I have nothing but what I wear, my sword, my shield and a 100 denars. I don't know what I should do or where I should go, I start to think; "Should I have really left or did I make a mistake by doing so?" I then see a poster for a tournament that will be held today, as I am in the need for money and being known by a few people would help me get started with my new life I join the tournament to gain the coin and fame I need.
I enter the arena and ask to join the games, I am then asked to sign up and write my full name, the weapons I want and I am allowed to pick 2 of the 3 bonuses that are a horse, better armor and a better weapon. I pick to use a single handed sword and a shield since I have some experience with it and I feel more confident with it and also the bonuses of the better armor and a better weapon. I then pick the team I want to be on, not a very helpful thing since they don't really tell me who is going to be on my team but only the team's uniform color.
After finishing signing up I am sent to grab my weapons and armor; In the dress up room I see people that look like they have been training their whole lives for tournaments and are gonna be tough to beat. It isn't going to be easy; I think to myself.
I come out of the dress up room and out to the arena itself, I'm nervous and anxious, I'm not a skilled fighter like my father or a lord who has been participating in tournaments and some even fighting wars; I'm just a small man in a big world, look to make a living.
There are 32 competitors, 4 teams. I'm in the blue time, I see most of the competitors picked having a horse and that makes me worried, I knew it was gonna be hard but I didn't know I will need to chase riders, avoid crouch lances and dodge charging horses.
I feel the excitement that is in the air; I know I can't die in this battle but I'm still very nervous, it's something about knowing people wanna get you that gives me that feeling. In some way; I think I actually like that feeling, that you gotta be quick on your mind, quick with your body too! It just makes me feel more... more alive.
The arena's manger announces the beginning of the games and the crowd is already cheering, I see all the horses quickly charging while me and another horseless guy from my team run by ourselves to the yellow team's starting area as we spot an archer in there who is trying to shoot down other competitors. While we are about 15 meters away he spots us and pulls out his blade but he was not fast enough, I landed a hit at his stomach and see him flinches but quickly hits back and hits the guy near me making him getting knocked out; He then tries to land a hit at me though I block it with my shield and then bash him making him fall on his back which allows me to hit him in the back before he even gets up and I take that opportunity and knock him out.
I see that all teams lost at least one guy already so I guess I'm just happy not to be one of these guys. I move on to the next guy I see, this time he is mounted on horse as I get close I can see that he is on the green team and that he is already being attacked by a guy from the red team, also my enemy. I get up close from behind them while they are busy fighting each other and knock the red competitor while he is still on his horse and I take another swing hitting the horse of the green competitor who quickly gets up and takes a swing – hitting me in my left arm. I then started taking a few swings of my own but he blocked them all, he took another swing and I managed to block it; I feel the tension rising and I start thinking if I'm gonna be knocked out of the round though from behind him another guy from my team spots me and gives me the help I need by shooting the green competitor in his back with one good arrow, making him get knocked out of the first round. It seems like it's just me and the archer that helped me, the first round is over, I feel a relive and as I get ready for round 2 I see I'm already rank 3 out of 32, seeing that gave me confidence so I have placed a bit over myself to gain some extra coin out of this competition, to get that I just needed to get 2 knock outs.
The 2nd round stars, I don't hold back and I start running right away, the people can notice my gained confidence. I run to where all my other teammates rode with their horses; seeing one of them is already knocked out I rush to help them and with a good hit from behind I knock out one of the green competitors and right after that I take another hit getting my 2nd knockout this round by getting another green competitor. I'm confident, I feel strong. I turn to find the next competitor but right when I finish turning I get an arrow to my face, knocking me down.
Round two is over and I remain the 3rd best in the competition, I gain some renown from all of this and some extra coin from my clever bet from last round.
It's time for the 3rd round, as it starts I run to the red team's starting area which is completely in the other side of the arena which means I can be attacked from all sides, but I'm confident of myself and I believe I can pull this off, I keep going but all of a sudden I am jumped on by two yellow competitors with a long sword and the other with a spear. I am hit from the guy with a long sword which hurts me and even almost knocking me out, it's not over yet though as I stab my sword into the one with the spear knocking him out and then in a quick move I swing my sword from above straight to his face knocking out the 2nd guy as well; Hurt from the hit I took, I run slower now; just a little bit slower but still. I keep going to the red's area and my luck stroke again as a green guy was running towards them as well but he had his back towards me which gave me the opportunity to hit him in the back but not taking him out, he turns and swings though I block and then take a swing myself knocking him out as well while still running towards the red's area. I look behind me and to my sides and I see I'm the only left but one more archer who is on the red team's starting area. He spotted me right after I took down the last guy so he already started shooting arrows towards me though I manage to block them all with my shield and as I am dead close to him I bash him with my shield and take a swing at him knocking him down as well. I took down four competitors this round also earning me the Fiercest Competitor award this round. I'm happy, proud of myself for doing this good and then the current ranking is announced – I am number one. I have topped all nobles and even the king himself!
It is not over yet, round four starts now. Right when the round starts I took an arrow to my knee which doesn't take me out but was a surprise, the round has barley even started. I go with my team to attack the greens and together we ambush two of them and I take out one while one of the mounted competitors took out the other. We move on, as a group to the red's starting area and we manage to take them all out one by one while I get three of them, that's already four knock outs this round. While fighting the reds my team lost two guys so it's mainly up to me and another swordsman since it looks like the other teammates who rode to the yellow's got knocked out. With even numbers we collide into a battle and my teammate is taken out because they focused on him, and with a good lucky hit I take out one of them and straight after that I get the other competitor as well. It's over. Now it's the final round that the arena's manger picked will be a one on one.
It's just me against the king.
The round starts. We run towards each other; each with his own sword and shield. I lift my shield up and he sends the first swing, then another, and then another. My shield is starting to get damaged and I understand I must start hitting him as well, I swing my sword and miss, I swing a couple of more times though he blocked them, he sent his sword once again and this time landing the hit at me, I bashed him with my shield though he just flinched a bit, the nord king is a strong fighter; he sends another swing that I block but this block came with the cost of me my shield. He sends another swing thought I manage to block it with my sword, I send a swing as well and I manage to land it on his right arm and I quickly send another; this time to his left. I land the hit, the king falls on the ground and the crowd cheers as I breath heavily; I won the tournament!
I feel proud and happy as I get my reward of a 1000 denars and a great new sword. Thinking that I can now rest for some time, feed on some good food and just live off tournaments such as this, I am approached by a guard, not knowing what he would want from me I am told I was invited to the feast the king is having, there I meet a nice blonde girl; her name is Bryn. We start a conversation where she says she watched me fight in the tournament and that it was a pleasure watching me, I thanked her and I have even dedicated my victory to her. After a few minutes I went to talk to some of the other guests in the feast until I met the king himself; I mean outside of the arena of course, we started chatting about how the realm is doing, about what are the things he is good at and of course of my victory in the tournament; after talking to him a little bit I then thought to myself: "well I'm a pretty good fighter, I could use some money and also fighting with the king has to make him like me."
I then asked the king to join his army as a soldier. He of course accepted and hired me as the lowest ranking soldier with a basic payroll.
This, is where my real adventure, begins.