Battles That Changed History, Second Period, Friday 2/5

[screwyoumarvel]

The students had handwavily been informed that they would be meeting in the Danger Shop today. When they arrived, they would find themselves in a mountain pass. Their teacher was standing next to a pile of red and blue jerseys, and another pile of assorted weaponry made out of Nerf foam. As the students entered they were advised to select a jersey.

"Welcome to Roncevaux Pass," Steve said once they were all assembled. "Modern-day Spain. It wouldn't have looked like this, exactly, but we'll take what we can get. This is an interesting battle; its actual impact on historical events has little to nothing to do with what actually happened here and a whole lot more to do with what people who weren't here would claim had happened hundreds of years later. The year is 788 AD. Charlemagne's forces meet with a Basque army. Charlemagne's army is defeated. His nephew, Roland, is killed, inspiring the famous Song of Roland. The Basque establish their independence." He paused. "Some people believe this was a battle between Christian forces, under Charlemagne, king of the Franks, and invading Muslim forces. This is not so. Both belligerents were Christian, in fact. Elsewhere, in other campaigns and other battles, Charlemagne did hold off the Muslim invasion, keeping them to Spain and keeping the rest of Europe Christian, which resulted in a lot of cultural developments on both sides and a lot of problems between the two religions regarding territory that persist to the present day. Charlemagne united Europe and helped set what it would be...but he didn't do it at Roncevaux. Here, he had a bad day. It's funny how legends get built, isn't it?

"So!" he clapped his hands. "Reds, you are the Franks. Blues, you are the Basques. Reds, see if you can change history. Blues, try to preserve it. Select your weapons, and begin."

Comments

Group PlottyTime

[screwyoumarvel]

Work out your strategies, such as it be.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[screwyoumarvel]

Franks go here.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose wasn't exactly concentrating on the class today. The vast majority of her attention was on where she should be which was standing guard with Dimitri.

Still, he'd insisted and she had to admit Strigoi couldn't come out during the day so class it was. Even if she wasn't paying much attention.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"You're not a cat thing anymore," Kyle pointed out helpfully.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"You're like crazy observant," Rose told him. Not that she wasn't pretty happy to see him.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

"It's one of my better skills. What did you do all week?"

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat on the side with long odds and no chance of winning sounded about right, he thought.

And the race through the rain had somehow soothed the exposed bits of skin, even if he now smelled like a cookie.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[bitchprince]

"So," Arthur said, sounding sporting about the whole thing, "I think we can turn this around."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat plucked at his red jersey and then looked up. "I prefer winning," he said, glancing around at the terrain. "How did the Roland man make his errors? We don't want to do the same thing."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[bitchprince]

"From what I've read?"

Of course Arthur knew a few things about this. Please. "He added to the enemy's forces by taking a few unpopular actions in the beleaguered city, then the Basques employed their superior knowledge of the terrain to trap and attack them."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[notmyownage]

Claudia had a foam weapon and a give-em-hell attitude.

Unfortunately, she had no fighting skills to speak of.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Red

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco had a ton of energy and looked way too excited about the class assignment.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[screwyoumarvel]

Basques go here.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[future_sandworm]

Preserving history? Leto found that amusing, even if it was just a game. He studied the terrain and considered the strategy.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia picked up a foam sword and swung it experimentally. She'd prefer a good blaster, but fake or not, a blade felt somehow right in her hand.

OK, she might have pretended it was a lightsaber. Shhh.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[future_sandworm]

Leto smiled at her. "Your weapon of choice?" he asked.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[likes_scoundrels]

"I'm more comfortable with a blaster," Leia confessed. "But swords of some type or another seem to run in the family."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[future_sandworm]

"Lightsabers? Ben has demonstrated them too me a few times," Leto replied. "Unfortunately I think there was a lack of blasters in the time we are studying."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

Mulan reached for a sword, very relieved it was only made of foam. She didn't want to be responsible for accidentally hurting herself or a classmate. Even if they were in the Danger Shop.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

With a sigh, Proto finally selected a sword, holding it entirely wrong, and looked around. When he spotted Mulan he cocked his head slightly to one side. "Do you know how to use one of these things?"

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[nodaintyflower.livejournal.com]

Mulan replied by swinging the sword. It even looked kind of graceful...until she dropped it. "Um...I guess not as much as I thought."

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[bamf-tastic.livejournal.com]

Kurt grabbed two swords and swung them around inexpertly. Being ambidextrous, he was equally bad with both hands.

"How come all the smart people are over THERE?" he whined.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

"What was that?" Proto asked with a tiny smirk.

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[bamf-tastic.livejournal.com]

Kurt stuck his tongue out at Proto. "I'm being serious," he said. "All the people who aren't completely LOST in this class are over there!" He shrugged. "Well, most of them, anyway. What about you -- are you any good?"

Re: Group PlottyTime - Blue

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

Proto was scowling at the pile of weapons, rejecting one after another. "Swords," he muttered. He didn't know how to use a sword.

Or any other piece of gear in the stack, for that matter.