2005-06-24 - 11:54 p.m.
Low
All I can say about that is, �Tarzan Rubberband!�
Or in other words, something I hope I never see again, but can�t make the pain go away anyway.
I got that little sweetie at sapphire joust; I guess I need to improve the leg armor on my right leg. The left leg is doing fine, right leg� not so much.
So our little trip to Kansas just happened to coincide with Lilies war, (at least the first part of it) So we got in Sat, I took off for Lilies on Sunday and got on site just in time for a serious rain/hail/wind storm.
I was sitting in an old friends tent when it started to rain, no big deal, then it began to pour, and then the wind and hail came. We each took a pole on the windward side and held on for all we were worth. Next door an army GP medium (big damn tent) ripped out all it�s stakes and collapsed. (the stakes were far from adequate) tents were flying through the air like empty plastic bags, it lasted a good 15 minutes.
After the worst of it stopped we resurrected the GP medium. That was an ordeal by itself with all that wet heavy canvas and only four or five guys to do it. But we got it up
(no viagra required)
I fought the next three days, there was a small bardic on Monday night. Most of the big parties happen early in the week so they drew the large crowds, there was another small bardic on wed. That one was especially memorable for the fire breathing display put on by some of the locals. It was a really good show.
On Wednesday I was also asked to fight in the Rose Tourney By Countess Isadora of Orangewood. The fighting wrapped up around 4:00 (I thought), the tourney was supposed to start at 5:00
As I was getting off the field I asked someone what time it was and they said four, and they would have been right back east. I figured I had time to walk back to the truck and plug my phone (which was dead) in so I could call Jill later that night.
I walk way, way out to the parking lot, open the door and plug in the phone, and turn on the car to see how much time I had left.
5:15
At first I thought maybe I forgot to reset the clock, no, wait this truck is from here,
OH SH*T!!
(I included that for posterities sake.)
I can�t even begin to imagine how much crap I will receive for missing this tourney, it�s not like no one would notice the one Countess in the procession walking by herself.
So I start hot footing it back to the field, it takes like ten minutes, I�m dead tired, and as I come around the bend I can hear a tourney going on, names being called honors all that jazz. (I should have taken a clue that there were no Knights or other titles)
I hustle up to the field only to realize that this is the novice tourney. It has run late and the Rose tourney will begin after its completion.
Turns out that it takes another 45minutes before the novice tourney is even over. Lesson: when at a war with people from all over the country, bring your own damn watch.
I did pretty well in the tourney, I had some good draws early on and that helped push me further into the tourney. I had been having trouble early on in the war with blow acknowledgement so I took off all my extra armor. They have a much lighter standard than I remember in Calontir. I was talking to a couple of old timers and they said that they thought it was getting lighter too.
Anyway, I just started taking pretty much anything that got past my defense. I didn�t have enough time to figure out exactly what was good or not, and I didn�t want to look like I was rhino hiding through the rose tourney. I made it to the final four, went 1-2 with the Duke I had lost to in the first round. I felt good about the tourney overall, made it a lot farther than I expected.
I fought the three days of war, a couple of miles of pick-ups and the rose tourney, and didn�t get any bruises, and I wasn�t wearing any armor. Try that in Atlantia, and you�ll look like the picture above, only all over.
It�s just a different game out here. I�d honestly prefer something in the middle, I�d like the blows to hurt a bit so you can say for certain whether it was good or not, at the same time I don�t need to get hit so hard that I just want to sit down and cry.
I�ll address the trip home in the next installment.
Justus
