It's Only a War II

Rowan was very excited that we were there, and insisted on giving us a tour. Luckily, that included taking us through the tavern area where we bought lunch. Grimmund harrased me about not being in armor, I told him food was first, and it's not like anyone was fighting anyway.

The site was very nice. Kind of crescent shaped, with one end being a penninsula into the lake, and the other following the shoreline. There was a beach for swimming and digging in the sand. The broken field was excellent (and in the shade, which might bias me). And the building was faux-midieval, with suits of armor in the corners and everything. The only complaint I have is that the grass was very long when they mowed, so there was hay all over, and in the quiet camping area the grass had sharp things in it, so barefoot was not an option.

After lunch, I did armor up and head for the list field. After applying a bit of duct tape to my weapons, Gintauras, the marshal in charge, asked if I could marshal some authorizations. After those were finished, the Northshielders went to the far end of the field, and we mustered under another tree, and waited. And waited.

Eventually, Gaylen the Smiling came and talked to us, and we headed out into the blazing hot sun.

For the first two scenarios, my job was "follow Dietrich and kill." This should have been easy, except that we outnumbered them quite a bit, and every target I saw was already being throughly chopped to bits. After that, I spent one battle flanking with Fern, which was fun. Once, we stood there like fish in a bucket and died. We did field battles for a long time.

Then we marched to the bridge and sat in the shade recovering for a while. This one was an unlimited resurection battle, so each time you died, you went and touched the resurection point (the commander, way in the back, in this instance) and were alive again. Initially, they didn't want us using spears at all, but whatever they had planned didn't happen, so I got to use my spear after all. We were going to fight for 15 minutes, with a hold called every 5, and whoever had control of the center of the bridge at those holds twice or three times won the scenario.

Did I mention it was hot, sunny, humid, with no breeze? At the first hold, we all thought it was the 10 or 15 minute hold. Fighters on both sides were dropping. They gave us a long rest after 10 minutes, and the third section wasn't quite 5 minutes.

I fought a lot, I died a lot. I saw an archer take aim, and I ducked, and one of the holds was called. The archer smiled at me. I knew I was dead meat. Since I knew him, I flicked him off. In my gauntlet, it didn't look like much. He laughed, and killed me as soon as the battle resumed. I had much fun.

There was another long wait before the broken field battles. It was a real broken field! There was an area with a little ridge, some bigxrocks, trees... Shade... mmm, shade..... During the break, someone from Northshield looked surprised at my Midlands tabbard- "I thought you were from Northshield!" "I was." Oh. I also grabbed everyone I knew, even vaguely, and told them they had to go look at our new tent. At that point during the day, you could look across the field and see it. Orange is very visible! Some even came by later.

Eventually, it was time to fight again. We split into 3-man teams. I ended up with Michelle and Tuge from Baille. Sir Fern said that Tuge would be leading this trio, which inspired me to be silly. "Really? I don't recognize you, who are you?" So he introduced himself, we shook hands.

First battle, we charged up to them and stopped. A voice said, "Take us in, Tuge." Tuge's brain said, "GO!" Tuge's mouth did not. Tuge made a suicide leap onto their sheidlwall. "Well, I guess that's it," said the voice, and we followed in a decidedly rag-tag fashion, and more of us died than needed to. Somehow, there was space between the groups again, and I looked around and saw Dietrich taking on more than one guy. I tried to foul the pole who was pushing him into a tree, but he died first, and I didn't last long after that. Northshield cleaned us up.

The second battle, we tried having an actual plan. Kinda sorta. Tuge went off at a trot, and Michelle and I followed. We lined up in front of them, and Tuge actaully yelled "Go!" this time! At least the three of us crashed through their ranks. I put my pole horizontal above our heads to keep us alive longer, the first time that's been the right thing for me to do, though I've heard much about it. I died in the thick of the fighting, and got to watch the thoroughly confusing dance of feet for a while before they called "dead out!" Apparently our glory charge was the right thing to do that time, and Fern praised our trio.

After that, they ran a "grand melee" which is just an "everyone versus everyone" tournament. I sat it out and chatted with Tuge. I did not do any pick-ups, since I was seriously out of energy. I took off most of my armor and talked to people. Then Fern asked if anyone was still interested in marching drills. There had been a great outcry in their favor during the long break in the bridge battle, but by now everyone was exhausted. Still, I know I have some serious gaps where moving with a unit, so Fern rounded up enough people for the minimalist version. And since I had been the one agitating, that meant I got to do the leading part after Fern demonstrated. I learned a lot, I just hope I retain some of it.

I dragged my armor, weapons, and self back to my tent. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to just walk into the tent and strip off my nasty sweaty clothes, rather than crawling into the tiny, hot dome tent. I put my fighting tunic back on, fully intending to walk into the lake as soon as I found Signy and got a little more liquid into me.

Signy was weaving inside with some other people doing artsy stuff. I'd just sat down when someone came in and announced that it was raining, not hard, but we might want to batten down. We went outside, where it was no longer raining, but we tied our doors shut anyway. I had just announced my intention to go swimming (or at least wading) when there was a flash of lightning and a low rumble of thunder. It wasn't close, but I've heard enough stories to be wary, and I know that if you can see the lightning, it can get you. I did not swim.

It grumbled for a while, and sprinkled on and off. We watched a storm move past us without hitting us. Signy and I appropriated a picnick table and set out snacks (hummus and breads, cherries, grapes, cheeses, olives...) while AElf made stew. The cottonwood tree we were under would occasionally spit leaves and assorted tree bits onto our table. Rowan spent a lot of time spitting her cherry seeds for distance. We gave a few tours of the tent, and everyone was properly appriciative.

When food was done, we feasted. Mmmm.... AElf makes good stew. I was hot enough that I couldn't eat much, but I managed enough to not get yelled at. (It's nice being loved...) The strawberries and brownies were excellent, as well. We lingered over our dinner long enough that we missed the desert revel inside. It was beautiful outside, however, and I didn't feel as though this was a loss (those of you who are familiar with my sweet tooth, please get up off the floor and stop hyperventillating).

Signey and I walked up and down the beach a few times, just talking, being together, and not having to do anything. It was very nice.

As it got darker, people started congregating by the bardic circle/firepit. Wood was gathered, including a trash-can full of oak scraps from someone's shop. Once things were burning, even more people congregated. I found myself nestled between Signy and one of Alexander de Seton's drums. Eventually, enough people were there that the singing started. I sang along where I could (and apparently over-did it, since I could not talk the next day. Oops).

A non-insignificant number of people who joined the circle just happened to sit or stand so that their turn was up next. Tuge had his great singing debut, and it was hillarious. Purple, the Kingdom Bard, showed up, and was ribbed mecrilessly for it ( "All hail the Kingdom Bard!" "Hail!"). He sang a new song, which was pretty cool, but no better for marching than the one he was trying to convince Their Majesties out of. Maire made Cerian figure out what she meant by, and then perform, the "kick ass" song. Signy requested "March of Cambreadth" which was really fun. I performed "Snow Roman" without any footnotes, for a bunch of people who didn't know the context, and it went over well. I failed to point out that Yseolt from Northshield has also been to that event, not just Signy and me.

After that, I turned in for the night. I very much enjoyed not having to crawl into the tent. I fell asleep to a strong male chorus to the sheep song (I haven't heard it all yet, so I have no idea *which* sheep song it may be, but I think it's Alexander's). The only problem I found was that the bed was too close to the back door of the tent, and the door kept blowing in just enough that half of me was sleeping outside.

The ground we were camped on was less comfortable than some wooden floors I've slept on. We did not sleep in much, even though it had been a very late night. We all ate oatmeal out of plastic cups for breakfast. Signy and I broke camp rather efficiently, especially for our first time with the tent. More importantly, it all fit back in to the car! With hugs from AElf and Rowan, we hit the road.

The drive home was unexciting. This has got to be one of the coolest events around. The fighting was awesome, the site was wonderful, the company fantastic. And only partly because it's a chance to see old friends. The archers seemed to be having fun, the rapier fighters played all day. It was great. We're definately going back next year.

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