[b]Robena[/b]

Revel for a moment in being one of the greatest knights to ever serve Lostwithiel! Your arm is strong, your aim sure. If you were less well-armed or less committed to your skill, the Azure knight would be a terrifying opponent, one who might well slay a lesser knight or unhorse them in an instant. But for you, arranged in your majestic cloak and seated surely atop Apricot, there is little risk even against a cursed knight such as this.

The Azure knight spurs her horse to a gallop, sets her lance, but despite her skill and unnatural stillness, she realizes just before the approach that yours is the stronger charge. You can see that she has a moment to choose, a single instant to decide whether to set her shield and turn the blow, losing her balance in the process, or whether to take the blow head on and try to match you. For a moment, it appears as though she'll do the sane thing and protect herself from a severe wound, but in the last instant, she sets her lance straight and matches yours. As your lance penetrates her mail and strikes what is probably a rib, it breaks and you hear the first sound from her: a rough grunt that makes you think from its tenor that she may be lighter than she appears with her full armor. A small red stain turns her surcoat into a shade of purple. However, she does not lose her balance, but if she keeps up like this, she may well be killed. 

Rearm yourself and tell us how you approach the second pass.

[The Azure knight spends 2: both on position. She inflicts 4 harm and has 3 armor, matching your position but suffering a wound in the process. From the tie, she will spend her full 3 on position in the next pass, intent on winning the contest at any cost to herself.]

[b]Constance[/b]

You sway and the Master of Arms (what was his name, by the by?) stands and catches you. The Duchess Marianne looks at you with a mixture of frustration and hope. This is obviously the wrong time: you're late, disrupting the tournament, and anything she does to respond to your wild gestures now will force the jousting knights to stop, a deep disrespect to their contest. The Azure knight has not even spoken yet, and they are rearming for their second pass as you arrived. Cerwen is looking at you with obvious worry, the master of arms is trying gently but firmly to press you into your seat. Yet for all that, it's clear the Duchess wants to respond to you. She [i]trusts[/i] you Constance, trusts the old ways, the visions, and the magic that runs through her veins. That trust, that faith in her heart is why Lostwithiel noticed the rot and stands against it now. 

Press her now for a response and you'll strain that trust, you will be asking a great deal, but she will do it and let you offer a pronouncement to the tournament. Or, wait, sit, question her other advisors, show your grace towards the combatants and you may have a stronger position later. How urgent is your vision, lady?

[b]Tristan[/b]

You tune out your surroundings, all your attention at the point of your arrow. You follow that imaginary shot as it strikes the badger, as the creature, surprised and wounded, might retreat into a tunnel. In your mind's eye you follow it underground, to cool mud and deep earth beneath the great roots of trees. If it had the health and the energy, it would dig forever, uprooting the fields and ruining the crops. It wants the weight of great trees above it, that dampness of the roots and the sense of weight that is its heart and home. It would ruin and destroy, make the world into empty, barren land from which new seeds would spread and grow until the forest overgrew it all. It is patient for such things and cares not for the starvation of people in how it wishes the world to be. 

But you have not fired that shot, and all this dances only in your mind's eye.

[b]Nin[/b]

[I gather the intended move is take stock, so I will answer as to the terrain and your options here]

You are in a large field of wheat. Its primary characteristic is that there is little variation: farmers working the land have made it flat, even, and thick with the stalks, though some are crushed or turned from the great badger. The soil is mostly dry, easy to move quietly and lightly with little sign even for the trained. Slipping away would be the easiest thing in the world, you could bring yourself to safety and further observe or follow the creature in near complete safety. That would be the simplest way to end this encounter, though it wouldn't solve your ultimate problem. Your strength is your surprise. The beast is surely strong enough to do you great harm if enraged, and once it knows itself to be in real danger, it may flee or attack aggressively, leaving you in uncertainty. So the best way to remain strong is to preserve your surprise and use it for the greatest possible effect. Perhaps a trap of some sort combined with Tristan's bow, though even that is unlikely to bring it down in a single blow, more likely to wound it badly and scare it off. That would solve the immediate urgency of the situation, perhaps giving you time to learn more, though you would need to be willing to severely wound the monster to do that.