Part One - HERE
Part Two - HERE
Round five of the campaign saw all three schools in with a chance of winning. Primus was well-positioned, with 12 Prestige - a single win, plus surviving two bouts would be enough for the 15 Prestige needed for victory. Secundus had a tougher job; with only 10 Prestige they needed to secure two wins, one of which needed to be by an inexperienced gladiator against one with a skill. Tertius also had 10 Prestige, but could pick up 2 Prestige if Herminia fought and survived, since she would then be freed.
The editor played to the relative positions of the schools. He required Primus to put forward a medium gladiator, and Primus went with the experienced Prudes. Tertius and Secundus both had a free choice. Naturally Tertius put Herminia forward; she could score 4 Prestige for him if she fought and won. Meanwhile Secundus chose the the inexperienced murmillo Grumio.
The pairings ended up as follows: Grumio was matched by Primus's veles, Baccibus. Tertius sent the inexperienced Mongo to face Prudes. And Herminia found herself up against the novice veles Xerxes.
Round 5 - Bout 1 - Grumio (Murmillo) vs Baccibus (Veles)
Neither gladiator in this fight was skilled, so the winner would just get 2 Prestige.
It proved to be a long bout. As befitted a veles, Baccibus fled, trying to keep space between himself and the slower Grumio. Grumio pressed forward aggressively, however. Early on Baccibus struck what seemed to be a dangerous blow, but Grumio avoided danger thanks to the cheers of the crowd spurring him on.
Baccibus threw javelin after javelin, and whilst he scored no wounds he did eventually cause Grumio to stumble. As Grumio struggled to his feet, Baccibus darted in and wounded him.
Grumio then went on the offensive, and drove Baccibus across the arena. At one stage he knocked down the veles, who survived only through their agility. Baccibus managed to down Grumio again, but fumbled the killing blow and was then driven back as Grumio got up and counter-attacked.
Grumio was content for a while to adopt a static defensive posture, deflecting Baccibus' throws.
Finally, though, he saw an opening, and lunged forward, only to fall to a skillful strike from the veles.
Baccibus picked up 2 prestige for Primus for defeating Grumio. The highly entertained crowd spared Grumio, who earned 1 Prestige for Secundus. However Secundus now couldn't win in this round.
Round 5 - Bout 2 - Prudes (Hoplomachus) vs Mongo (Murmillo)
Primus's second bout of the day would see him reach 15 Prestige so long as Prudes survived the fight. Mongo could earn 3 Prestige for Tertius by defeating the hoplomachus. If Herminia could win her fight then the combined Prestige would edge his school ahead that of Primus.
So there was everything to play for here. Mongo needed to win and, preferably, with enough crowd support that Prudes would not be spared.
It started well for Mongo. Prudes backed off and immediately threw his spear, but Mongo deflected it.
Mongo closed in and hit Prudes with a mighty shield-rush, but the wily and lucky hoplomachus used Mongo's momentum against him and sent him sprawling onto the sand. He then stabbed the murmillo before he could get up and again as he struggled to his feet.
Surprisingly Mongo rallied from this and launched his own series of attacks that even saw Prudes downed at one point.
But it wasn't enough. Mongo was slowed by his injuries and once Prudes recovered his momentum he finished off the murmillo fairly easily.
Mongo was spared by the crowd and earned 1 Prestige for Tertius. Primus earned 2 Prestige for his win, putting his school on 16 Prestige.
Round 5 - Bout 3 - Herminia (Dimachaerus) vs Verxes (Veles)
The campaign was decided. With 16 Prestige, no-one could catch him in this round. If Xerxes won this bout then he would push Secundus to 13 Prestige. A win for Herminia would see Tertius gain 4 Prestige, giving him a total of 15, and even Herminia surviving a loss would put Tertius on 14. Secundus could get second-place if Xerxes could defeat Herminia and if she didn't survive the bout ...
Xerxes played safe - he backed off and threw javelins, hoping that one would get past Herminia's defences. She deflected them with crowd-pleasing parries.
Xerxes changed tactics and tried a hit and run approach. Herminia managed to pin him in place as he tried to dart past her, and knock him down, but he was still fresh enough to get up and out of danger before she could exploit her advantage.
Xerxes reverted to evasion and javelin throws, whilst Herminia was frustrated trying to close.
She eventually managed to get in close and wounded the veles. This would slow him down.
To his credit Xerxes continued to put up an incredible fight. Herminia was constantly forced to come up with creative counters to his admittedly increasingly desperate attacks. But eventually his wounds wore him down and her skill told; she knocked him down and finished him.
Herminia's fourth win in five bouts sent the crowd into a frenzy, one of the results of which was that they were in no mood to grant mercy to the heroic Xerxes. This meant that Secundus got no Prestige for the fight (a real injustice). Herminia, however, picked up 2 Prestige for her win and, since this was her fifth bout, the wooden sword of freedom, for another 2 Prestige.
So the final positions were:
Baccibus (Veles) - 2 Bouts
Velox (Sagittarius) - 3 Bouts, +1 Attack
Prudes (Hoplomachus) - 3 Bouts, +1 Attack
Bellerefons (Murmillo) - 2 Bouts, +1 Defence
Secundus - 11 Prestige (Four wins, three losses with missio)
Verus (Hoplomachus) - 3 Bouts, +1 Defence
Grumio (Murmillo) - 2 Bouts
Victor (Crupellarius) - 2 Bouts, +1 Attack
Tertius - 15 Prestige (Five wins, three losses with missio and one Rudis)
Tetraites (Thraex) - 2 Bouts, +1 Speed
Herminia (Dimachaerus) - 5 Bouts, +1 Attack, Freedom
Mongo (Murmillo) - 1 Bout
Bato (Veles) - 0 Bouts
So Primus won a close victory, mostly through not only winning a majority of bouts, but by not losing a single gladiator to the vagaries of the crowd. Here are Primus's winners:
Star of the campaign, though, was Herminia who won four of her five bouts and accounted for 10 out of Tertius's 15 Prestige.
And finally, the gladiators who didn't make it, three from the school of Secundus (who was very unlucky in that respect) and two from that of Tertius.
All of my new gladiators got at least one outing (although it was one very final outing in the case of two of them).
And I found some more the other day; another seven are based and waiting for an undercoat.
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