IE was where I as a DM learned that Cavaliers and Barbarians can take a really long time to duke it out, if they become so inclined…
A minor disagreement between Sir Nameless the Cavalier and Beregrond Dunglung the Barbarian (two of the PCs in my group) led to blows while they camped at the edge of a marsh, awaiting a friend to return with some hirelings to assist in raiding a nearby ruined keep. Sir Nameless instigated the combat by flicking a dagger at Beregrond’s pet pig, Mortis, who was chained to the leg of his owner. Sir Nameless got a nat 20 and max damage, skewering poor Mortis through the eye and brain.
For an hour of real-time they fought, nary a blow landing with their furious flurries of dice rolling for multiple attacks. I was rolling in laughter, narrating axe blades glancing off of field plate armor and narrow misses from long swords as Beregrond dodged resembling nothing less than the sinuous grace of a stalking panther. I was running out of descriptive terms for “you missed… again” when Beregrond’s player initiated a brilliant strategy.
Beregrond tripped Sir Nameless, and while the Cavalier floundered around trying to rise to his feet (failed Str checks), Beregrond tied up the hapless Cavalier with a rope. The Barbarian rested until the hirelings arrived, after disarming and stripping the Cavalier and dining on his horse, and left Sir Nameless tied up naked in the swamp, still dragging the body of his favorite dead pig Mortis behind him to explore the dungeon I had created for the group that night.