Before duels and jousts, Uthred tries to use the time (especially the dinner) to dig some information and remember what he knows of the other participants' fighting styles and other pertinent information for trying to prepare for the fights with an opportune strategy:
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History for information on opposition - (1d20+8)[26] + Tactical Assessment - (1d8)[7]
Persuasion to dig out information - (1d20+10)[12] + Commanding Presence - (1d8)[8]
Deception to do it covertly - (1d20+7)[9]
EDIT: Okay, so he has a lot of information on the opponents beforehand and does a decent job of finding more, but is not especially subtle about the fact that he's prying information for the purposes of the duels.