Festival of Maidens
January 20-22, 2006
Signy and I, in a fit of together-ness, were mostly packed up and ready
to go on Thursday. Friday was putting things into bags most
efficiently, turning down the heat, and going.
We got to the hotel with no weather problems. We checked in and were
just getting our keys as Gwyn, Dietrich, AElf, Rowan and Jens arrived.
We went to the top floor and followed the signs to our room. It was a
maze. Long, twisty corridors, dark, overdone decorating...
But we had gotten adjoining rooms, and the beds were much larger than
usual for hotel beds. Dietrich found where stuff could be put inside to
thaw, and they moved most or all of their stuff in. I was ready for
bed, and just brought in the bare minimums. I still stayed up later
than I should have talking.
Saturday morning wel slept in past when food should have happened. Then
the hotel resturaunt had no staff. Once we were finally fed, we walked
the miles and miles of corridors to get to troll, which was probably
just under the resturaunt. The line was impressive. I ended up in the
Illiton section, with Gareth and Elayne, Angela Keltner (who's SCA name
I cannot remember), Alzbeta and Wilhelm.
After recieving my Penguin on a Rope, I got my armor. The fighting was
in a long hall in a shopping mall. I set up with Rob, Constance, and
the other Illiton fighters who'd gathered there. I noticed that Shawn
Riggen's (Again, my apologies, I don't know your SCA name) lady,
Elsebeth, was sitting with a bunch of figthers, so I introduced her to
Signy, Gwyn, AElf, and Mykalynn, who promptly lost her while shopping.
Shawn re-authorized with no problems. Kenneth authorized two-weapon and
took second in the novice tourney.
Eventually, I got into my armor, but not with enough time to get
inspected and warmed up before the Novice Tourney. Oh well. I chatted
with Julia and Signy until the pool tourney was called. I had a date to
warm up with Julia, but she was being beaten on my her knight, so I
convinced Rob that he wanted to warm up with me. My head was so out of
the game I had to stand there and ask him to hit me a few times before
I could even get in a good defensive position, much less hit him. A
knight and I don't know and Avery were marshalling us and wanted to
give me helpful advice, but I begged them to wait until after the
tournament. I have trouble getting in the right headspace when people
are trying to teach me things before I'm warmed up.
I was lucky enough to be in the one of the first pools. (6 pools of 10
fighters, each fighter fights all other fighters in that pool. Top 2 in
each pool advance. 3 pools fight at a time.) We got to pick our own
fights, so I decided to start with the "easy" fights, and save the
people I had a chance of beating until later. I first picked a knight
from Constellation who's name I knew yesterday... Giovanni? He took my
arm and then gently killed me. Then I picked Sabah, who handed me my
head three times before I could yell "good!" Then I got Ix, who double
killed, then killed me.
Then the King stepped onto our field and fought each of us. When he saw
I had a pole, he switched to greatsword. This was probably actually a
kindness, and was certainly polite. Except that I have a lot more
experience against sword and shield than pole against greatsword. I am
proud to announce that he took three shots to kill me. The king went
through all 6 pools that way. Wow.
Back to the regular tournament, I had been saving Julia for last,
because I fight her a lot, and I know she's a good fun fight. But she
needed a partner, so I stepped up. And utterly wasted the bout my
one-shotting her! Dangit... Then I fought a knight from Calontir, who
switched to pole for me. He thrusted me, I called them light, then
remembered he was from a different kingdom. "Hit me how you think is
good. OK, those weren't as hard as that." We tied up our poles and were
well within the allowed rules, when I saw the listropes in my
peripheral vision. I failed to change direction, and the marshals
yelled "hold!" just as I was shoved into one of the concrete boxes
around the trees. We re-set, and soon were in the same bind, and I
refused to get caught again! When I couldn't grab his weapon, I bailed.
He got me with a very polite cup shot, which confused everyone, and I
had to explain to my opponent and both marshals individually what had
happened. "Ah, yes, OK."
I died a lot more. I accidentally cup-shot one guy for my second and
last kill. Fagan got his pole for my next to last fight. We had some
good grappling, and far too many "Good!" "No, flat!" etc. moments. He
finally killed me. I basically stood there and died for my last bout.
I fought a lot better than I did last year, even though my numbers were
the same.
I stood around and drank Rob's water for a long time. I talked with
people. Gunnvor saw two non-SCA folk, a 3-year-old and his grandmother,
who had gotten between the listropes. I played deputy chatelaine for
quite a while after that. It's much easier when they have so many
questions about something I love.
I watched Dietrich fight for a while. He looked very short fighting
King Edmund. Usually on the list he looks fighter-sized, not short or
tall. When my sweat had gotten cold, I took off my armor, and spent the
next 45 minutes or so socializing my way to the shower.
Hot water and soap are truely gifts from the gods.
I took a short nap in my oh so quiet hotel room. Then I dressed in my
newest pants, the shoes with new insoles (wonderful), my best tunic
with pewter favors, torc (which I had worn while fighting, oops...),
armband, and necklaces, and went in search of food.
It being almost 4pm, it took me a while to remember that I was looking
for food and where food might be. But it made the world a lot better
once I found it. I listened and later somewhat participated in
conversations with Evil Dietrich and Afzanie, which was very
interesting. They fed me chocolate and licorice! Lots of licorice,
since most people didn't want any. I showed off my pants to anyone who
might be interested.
Gwyn, Dietrich and I went to court. Master Master John was banished,
for saying Edmund is less pompus than he used to be. Apparently they
didn't finish? I don't know, it was good schtick all around. During the
Swearings of Fealty, the Laurels were left out, until someone brought
this to the attention of Their Majesties, and there was a sudden change
or pace as Oathbinder was drawn again after an award was given. Illiton
presented our donation to the travel fund. Elayne was made a Forrester
for her work with thrown weapons! Woohoo! Dave from Keewanee and Pan
Wilhelm made scrolls. Alzbeta heralded.
11 of us gathered for dinner. Somebody had had the clever idea of going
to the Chineese place in the mall attached to he hotel, so we could
walk instead of driving around somewhere. We were the second large
group in, and they were just a bit overwhelmed. Eventually, everyone
got food. I thought it was very good. Splitting up the bill had to be
done evenly, as it was in Chineese.
I had promised Lord Kenneth I'd see him in the evening, and that didn't
happen. We went up to the room from dinner, talked to some folks who'd
eaten with us, and I fell asleep and went to bed.
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2006