[color=blue]"So, you didn't see...?" Fiona breathes a tiny sigh of relief, then looks up at Korvin. ((Sitting flat on her butt, she's still a shade over 4½ feet high, I reckon.)) He can see her eyes glistening.
[color=blue]"First the werewolf, then this. I think I'm done with Certamen," she says, an obviously forced attempt at humour.
Alexei faces off against Artorius of Bonisagus. He's a relatively young magus, younger than Santiago....
Alexei lands a blow against Artorious, while Artorious fails to land a blow this time around, in fact his lance goes flying, gets caught in the lists, trips his horse and he goes headlong through the air. The horse's neck appears to be broken, but Artorius appears to be fine. The horse is disposed of, and Artorious conjures another one to take its place.
Next round, Intitiative, attack and defense...
Alexei frowns at the more flagrant display of magic in the joust, but this was a wizard's tourney after all. "When you are ready Sodale, may you fare well." Alexei calls to him after he's conjured another horse, allowing him all the time he needs to prepare.
Attack:
1d10+13 → [9,13] = (22) 22
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3826450/
Defense:
1d10+13 → [6,13] = (19) 19
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3826452/
Forgot to include relevant stats for Artorius...
Attack: Dex -2, Great Weapon 6, +3 Mounted, Wpn +4=11+Die Roll
Defense: Qik 2, Single Wpn 5, Heater 3=10 +Die Roll.
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3827999/
Artorius Attacks for a total of 20, beating Alexei's Defense, by 1. Alexei needs to soak 1 +2 +5 damage (Herbam).
Alexei's lance looks like it's going to strike true, but at the last minute, it is deflected, doesn't even touch Artorius... Defense total was 17... ((Player can figure it out...))
((Alexei's soak is 26, so should be no problem. So it seemed that Alexei should have hit, but did not. Before Alexei does anything: 3 questions
You can get a spell or two off between the time it takes to reset, and this is often the case for competitors to make during the Joust. Spells are supposed to be on the self, mount or weapon, only.
((OK, the staff is super magicked up right now, the glove is supposed to be mundane so it can strike, need to cast a spell on the glove:
Base 10 (detect the recent presence of weak magic)
R: Touch +1 D: Momentary T: Individual
Level 15
Alexei will cast this spontaneously
Sta 2 Intellego 5 Vim 8 Aura 5 +3 For Special Circumstances (Touching Staff) 23 +Stress Die:
1d10+23 → [6,23] = 29
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3828463/
If necessary Alexei will spend the Confidence to succeed on the spell.
So a Ward of some kind, like Rego Herbam with an Animal Requisite would work, but is it legal? I was going to try a spell like that in the first joust and didn't because it could be illegal, if I remember correctly.
IIRC, the only thing I poo-pooed in the last Joust was Alexei trying to increase his size to +3 (this would also make riding a horse rather difficult for a number of reasons). The main reason why I banned the Size +3 is because it makes the competition much more likely to inflict damage, and if a magus receives a certain amount of damage they could effectively receive so much that when the spell expires that they die, unless they are healed at size +3, which is problematic. If one were naturally that size, it woudl be a different situation, of course. So, this has been officially outlawed within the PC of the Normandy Tribunal as it relates to the games.
Otherwise any spells cast on the magus, lance or mount, by the magus himself are fine.
There are traces of magic on the leather. You can call a halt to the event and have the matter more fully investigated, or continue on. Let's treat this like an NFL challenge, after a fashion. If you challenge and fail, your opponent scores another hit, which would end the competition with him moving on. If you challenge and win, you negate your opponent's hit.
Oh, and Alexei can (and should) make an Awareness roll...
Perception and Awareness roll:
1d10-2 → [4,-2] = (2)
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3829687/
If a Confidence point will make a difference he'll spend it, but I'm not expecting much, his Perception sucks.
Alright, a confidence point will be enough for Alexei to tell that the leather has been loosened a bit. This hasn't happened before...
((Grr...too easily overlooked or over-ruled, Alexei won't get a Marshal to check this. He looks pointedly at Ariel and taps the cross on his tabbard twice and will change tactics, one final question; you can't cast a spell on the opponent, or the opponent's mount, lance or equipment right?))
"Fiona? Roberto?" he calls as he dismounts. Heading over to the stands he hands over his Talisman which is the size of a lance now. "Please hold this for me. I believe someone is casting spells on it, I had him dead to rights on the last pass and it deflected off, I know the feel when my weapons meet resistance." he says quietly to them. "When I checked my weapon there was the lingering trace of magic on the glove I put at the end of it and the thongs were loosened. I think someone cast a spell on it to either loosen it or give it a weak enchantment, either one would have caused the lance to deflect. Keep a wary eye out if ye please. I don't think my opponent did it, I think someone in the crods may have."
From there Alexei will take up one of the lances offered by the contest itself. ((I assume we have those right? And by default they are unenchanted and don't have anything like a glove on them as my Talisman))
He checks the heft of the new lance and salutes his opponent.
This would cause too much of a delay. And There may not be any cheating. It is more likely that Alexeis opponent has a ReAn effect on him.
This shouldn't take much time, just changing weapons really. Can he switch to a normal lance? Lances get broken all the time, they have to have replacements. He just wants to make sure his Talisman isn't merely left in the field, if it saves time he'll hand it to Michel and tell him to bring it to Fiona or Roberto.
Yeah, lances are available, sure. And competitors have their pages, someone like Michele or Brionne would certainly be able to take his other lance from Alexei. Just not enough time to dismount, really.
((That works))
Alexei salutes his opponent again grimly. The next pass would determine if he progressed or not and if someone was cheating...
Attack:
1d10+13 → [8,13] = 21
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3830331/
Defense:
1d10+13 → [7,13] = 20
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3830332/
He'll spend a Confidence on his Defense roll if he needs to, he can at least force another round.
Attack: Dex -2, Great Weapon 6, +3 Mounted, Wpn +4=11+Die Roll
Defense: Qik 2, Single Wpn 5, Heater 3=10 +Die Roll.
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3830340/
Attack total of 15.
Defense total of 17.
Artorius salutes, and at the signal they begin the charge. He fails to connect and Alexei lands another hit, and moves on to the next round, the Elite Eight.
Roberto is on hand to hold the lance 
Alexei gets off his horse and partakes of weak watered down wine to quench his thirst. He shakes hands with Artorius. "Well done Sodale, we shall surely have much competition from you in your no doubt long career. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Tribunal." Alexei is sincere in his well-wishes, but he is a bit distracted by the events. From there he looks for Roberto. The lance that he is entrusted with is obviously the staff that Alexei always carries. It is a well carved oaken staff and has a prominent Amber stone towards the top of it.
"Roberto. Thank you for safeguarding this. I would like to use it in the joust, but it is too easy to be used against me. The entire staff is magical and so shall be resisted by their Parma, the glove I put on allows me to strike with force with it. Someone...I don't think the competitor I faced, cast a spell on it, the glove. Either the spell made the glove magical or it loosed it enough so that the staff would strike and so deflect off his Parma. The first time I was in the tourney, I tilted against Rotgers and my Parma was tested multiple times. I believe it might have been him. Would you look out for him for me please? See if he is using anything but of course you must not scry. I have informed Ariel, but she would need some kind of proof." he takes a deep breath and wipes his face with a towel. "I would not have expected someone from Bonisagus to joust so well, my mistake, I should mever underestimate my opponent. Have you seen Fiona?"
At the end of the Joust, Arotrius' mount disappears with a flick of Artorius's wrist.
((What really happened is that Artorius has a good animal, herbam and Imaginem score. Alexei hit him with his leather covered lance in the first round, Artorious took the hit, sized Alexei up, and then deliberately killed his real horse and then conjured a phantasmal horse. He then warded himself against animal, which caused Alexei's lance to be pushed away at the last moment due to the animal ward. Such a tactic is useful against Rotgiers who is rumored to have a spell that changes his lance to bone...))