Steppes Warlord from inside my helmet

Catalina — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:17:08 GMT

I do not like to toot my own horn so normally I’d never post anything like this in my own blog. However, Chiara told me that I *will* write this for her to read. So there you go, a command performance. This weekend was the Steppes Warlord tourney, which has one of the strangest formats I’ve ever encountered. The Warlord bracket proper is a standard double elimination. If you happen to be a Knight and you lose two rounds there you’re done. However, if you happen to only be a Centurion or lower you get to drop to another tourney with a single elim. format. If, by chance, you happen to only have a Talon or lower, you can drop another bracket to a different single elim. tourney after that. Lastly, should you have lost all four of those previous fights, you still have one more chance in the Everyman Tourney, assuming you don’t have any of the other awards. So everyone is promised at least 5 fights for the day if they stay in the whole time. I fought 8 fights in temperatures that were at 102 on the heat index at 9am. I fought for about 5 hours and I did not throw up, fall over, or pass out. Which to me, with my solid history of heat damage and putting myself in hospital in the summer, means I won. Maybe I didn’t win the tourney, but I won my own fight. First round of Warlord Tourney I fought a very nice gentleman surnamed The Blue. I’ll be dipped if I can remember his first name. He had a jingling chain shirt and a bastard sword with a butt-spike that he held like a lover. I took my new great ax that Martel gave me. He played it close in, not the bum rush you often see from big swords. We had a little up close work, both of us trying to get our butt-spikes into position, then we broke to reconsider. The next close I swung just a shade too far and my right foot slid in the thick grass. His shot connected with my head and slid down to leave a pleasantly-purple mark the size of my fist on my left shoulder. Point for him. Second round of Warlord Tourney I was unhappy. I didn’t think I’d done my best in that first one and I wanted to do better. I was paired against a gentle in a green tabard with steel grey-hair and a painted black helm. He introduced himself but my memory is still as poor as always. We agreed on single sword and came out swinging. He had the standard “swing and pray” technique many people who are more comfortable with shields prefer. I hit him too lightly on our first pass, so the second one I settled in to do the job. On-side head, off-side head, on-side arm. Point for me. Third round of Warlord Tourney I was fighting Cathal. I’ve seen him before and I may even have fought him before, but not like this. I took the heater shield out for the first time because I’d noticed he was doing pretty well with it. It didn’t cover as much as I’d hoped. He pounded the tar out of my left leg (yeah, that spot) then got me in the head before I could croak out “good!” or fall over. I had a moment of baby-sealism and had to take a walk in my helm for a bit. If you happen to see me wandering around behind the lists with my helm still on, please leave me alone. I’m generally crying in frustration and angry with myself. It gets all snotty and disgusting. Onward to the first round of the Centurion’s Tourney! I was very happy to fight Maggie, Sir Tomas’ squire. Not only is she fun, cheerful, and soothing to be around, she’s also a left-handed round shield fighter. I went out with Esteban’s buckler which is only a bit smaller then Maggie’s round. We were getting stick on each other but it was always flat or too close to the hilt to call it good. Lots of dancing about was done and at one point I threw a thrust that she moved her face out of by just a tiny motion. My point skimmed along beside her head below the line of the helm, but over the gorget and got caught on something. I panicked slightly, thinking I’d jacked her in the throat, but it turned out I’d gotten tangled in her braid. We double-killed and they made us fight again. She had the trick of hiding her basket behind her shield too, but in the end it was my flat snap that did it. I think I’m going to send more time on that at the pell. The second round of the Centurion’s Tourney I fought Fodetter, I think. I heard his name called about six different ways and he wasn’t happy with any of them. Sword and buckler again for me because it was getting really hot and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to carry the heater. I over-balanced again, got my leg taken, and was off the field so fast the grass didn’t have time to cool in my shadow. I have to start getting a deeper bend on the forward leg, even when my instincts tell me to stand up taller against these bigger guys. First round of the Talon Tourney I fought the gentleman brewer from House Arkam whose port won the competition. I really wish I could tell you his name, but he gave me so much of his excellent and award-winning brew later that night, it’s totally gone from me. Green tower shield with a yellow diamond that had a red horned tower on it for him, itty-bitty plain buckler for me. He was only a head taller then me so I hopped around a bit and played distraction with him. He threw a shot that I blocked with both the buckler and my sword hilt behind it, but the force of his arm was strong enough that all of it hit me in the head anyway. His grip slipped though and the sword went flying across the field. I did not want to let any of that power connect with any of my meat bits. Eventually he opened up that giant door and I poked him in the nose. Second round of the Talon Tourney, I fought Lord Ariha, whose name is much much longer then that and who tends to make field heralds sweat. I’ve fought him before and I remembered he liked to run around and jump. Considering how hot it was, I just opted to juggernaught him, backing him into a corner of the ropes. At one point he tossed a shot which I blocked and the basket hilt went flying off his sword. We stopped to get him a new sword and then kept going. Now here’s where it got strange. I fired off a head- leg combo I’ve used before and he went down. I knew the head didn’t connect so I figured it was the leg. Then he just kept going and fell over dead. He told me later that I’d popped him in the ribs, just above his kidney belt, good and hard. I have no recollection of throwing that shot at all, but he had a welt coming up. There may be some possibility I can learn how to do this thing after all. Final fight for me was with Peter Macintyre in the Talon Tourney. I was pretty darn toasty at that point and wasn’t paying nearly enough attention. I knew he’d been doing well over the day, but I’d not had a chance to watch him or fight him before. I got stick on him once or twice, but it was too light to do anything and he whapped the stupid leg again before hitting me in the head. I wish I could give you more detail, but I was not doing well from the heat at that point at all. I forgot to fall down properly when I got hit, but the crowd on the side reminded me and I collapsed once off the list. Of course, I didn’t feel like getting back up again, but I managed to get out of the ant bed. So there you go, a view of Steppes Warlord from inside one person’s helm. If I’d known I was going to have to write it up, I’d have taken better notes.

Congratulations

Catalina — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:58:47 GMT

*Breaks out the line of dancing rodents* Congo-rats to both Sir Kael and Duke/Prince (yes I did make that up) Aaron! Very very proud and happy for you guys. My current project list includes new clothes for Candlemas and a banner with the motto 'All Your Kingdoms Are Belong To Us' in a nice Latin translation for you guys. Groa says the Mid-Realm is ripe for the picking, if we had anyone moving soon. =D

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Steppes Warlord from inside my helmet

Congratulations