Gulf Wars XVII (part 4)

Thursday

Ansteorra’s Ladies of the Rose Sponsored Rapier Tournament
This tournament just never seems to go my way, at least not for very long. Duchess Katrina was good enough to sponsor me again this year, and for my first duel, I fought a good fellow named James Allen (if I recall correctly). I suppose I shouldn’t complain about my luck so much, since I won my first duel and James didn’t; I got past his guard with practically my first thrust to strike him in the face.

For my second duel, I drew Baron Mateo from Northshield (I think – he may be from the Midrealm – I’m not entirely sure). Don Mateo is one of those fencer’s who’s a good bit taller than me, has about a foot more reach, and practices. At least I don’t have to feel embarrassed about losing to such a worthy opponent; he continued in the tournament all the way to at least the quarter finals (from a starting field of something like 78 fighters).

For my third duel, I drew the “bye fighter”. As there was no designated bye fighter for the tournament, the marshals asked Her Majesty of Ansteorra to choose someone. She cheerfully assured me that she would find me a good fight, and she certainly did that: Don Aaron (not sure of the spelling) from Ansteorra. To my credit, I can say that I made him work to get the kill, and I appreciate him setting aside his dagger after taking my left arm. Don Aaron made it all the way to the final round of the tournament, so again, I was at least losing with some dignity.

Trimaris Ball
The lovely Lady Theodosia Perplexa from Trimaris hosted Thursday night’s ball. I truly appreciate her help on this, since she jumped in to assist when Lord Edwardus, who was going to host the Trimaris Ball, had to cancel just a couple of weeks before the war due to work obligations.

still more to come...