It was announced at the past Neridia that there would
be a tournament run by the Mischief Makers Guild and
its Guildmaster, Ambassador Darnov. It would consist
of several competitions, notably an individual
fighting competition to the touch, a group fighting
competition to the blood, a talent competition, a top
ten list competition, and an insult competition.
There would have been more competitions, but time did
not permit, unfortunately. I was staying with House
Bashere for that particular gathering, and so when the
House opted to enter the tournament, I gladly went
along.
The first competition was the individual fighting
competition to the touch. Victory required five
touches. Unfortunately, all of House Bashere went out
in the first round other than me. Squire Jokarius is
a great fighter, but was overwhelmed by Sir Oberon of
Ravenholt, who is amazing. I drew one of the Silver
Dragons as my first round match, and did manage to
defeat him, although I had to come back from a 4-2
deficit to do so. In that competition, though, I
probably had an advantage, as my spear was longer than
his long sword.
The second round faced me up against a gentleman I did
not know who was using a sword and board combo.
Unwisely, I decided to use a long sword instead of a
spear for that contest. As many of you know, it is
virtually impossible to defeat a sword and shield
fighter with just a sword, and I quickly found that
out, getting myself into another 4-2 deficit. I did
manage to tie it at 4-4, but tired myself out doing
so. I then made a critical mistake on the last round,
and so ended up losing 5-4. However, my showing
earned the House some points, and that made me happy.
The next competition was the group fighting
competition to the blood, and this time House Bashere
went with Squire Jokarius, Squire Candidate Titania,
Jimmy Redgrave, Matthew Freeman, and myself. Overall,
a very well balanced group. Unfortunately, I was
still worn out at this point from my last fight, but
Lili, Tyrra bless her, kept me drinking water and
would fan me in between rounds, so that I could keep
going. I felt like a ring fighter I would sometimes
watch when I lived back in Sercia, but for the House I
pressed on.
The first contest had us going against the elves
formerly of Echor Goroth, led by Aurellis.
Unfortunately, a miscommunication by Ambassador Darnov
marred this round. He told us that magic items would
not reset after the fight, and told them that magit
items would. Therefore, we did not use magic items
and they did, which put us at a serious disadvantage,
especially when I found many of my spells cloaked or
baned.
We did, however, almost win the fight anyway, when
Jimmy almost landed a key waylay, but missed slightly.
From that point on, we went down like flies. I ran
around the field, trying to use my speed to keep
people up, but it was no use. Finally I was taken
down, and that ended that round. Again, thank Tyrra
that Lili was there, as I was exhausted, and she kept
me alive with water and fanning. It was at this point
that we were informed that there would be two more
rounds, and I think we all groaned a little.
Our next fight was against Leeorick and his Silver
Dragons. Our strategy was to take out the casters,
but that didn't work overly well since it seemed like
every one of them could cast. Then, someone ran onto
the field and took two of them down. The match had to
be halted and the intruder told that it was only a
game. Our abilities reset again and we started the
round over.
This time Squire Jokarius came up with a brilliant
plan. We walked slowly towards them, and they began
backing away. Squire Jokarius yelled out, "For the
House!" and we all yelled "BASHERE!" We then charged
right at them, and they looked terrified. They were
taken down in under thirty seconds, with Leeorick
imprisoned by Matthew Freeman.
Our next round had us facing the International House
of Pain, the team of Telaris and friends. Again, our
strategy in this fight was to take down our opponent's
biggest caster, in this case Telaris. Titania fought
Telaris with her sword and shield while I cast over
Titania's shoulder, and we managed to take him down.
After he fell, the rest of the International House of
Pain fell relatviely easily.
Thus, House Bashere managed to grab second in the team
fighting, which put us in second place overall. The
next competition was the talent competition. The
International House of Pain did some type of belly
dancing for Ambassador Darnov, which he liked very
much. I do not recall what the Silver Dragons or
elves did, but I know that Lili won the competition
for us with a dazzling light show, using two light
spells on the end of two ropes which she twirled
around. You had to see it to believe it, but it was
amazing.
That led us to the Top Ten competition, for which Lili
and I had written out a list of the top ten reasons to
join House Bashere. Several were very humorous, and
several did not go over so well. I do not know how we
fared in that competition. If I can ever find a copy
of the list, I will post it here in the Great Library.
Finally, we came to the final event, the insult
competition. Squire Jokarius for us went against one
of the members of the International House of Pain.
Squire Jokarius was brilliant. He weaved finely
crafted insults which were so subtle as to escape
notice without a careful ear. Unfortunately,
Ambassador Darnov, the judge, did not have a careful
ear. He did not like Squire Jokarius' insults, and so
decided he would join in. He intervened in the
competition by insulting Squire Jokarius, and Squire
Jokarius stormed off, quite justifiably.
Overall, House Bashere came in second in the
competition. I know I will sound bitter with this,
but if it were not for many questionable actions from
Ambassador Darnov, House Bashere would have easily
won. I doubt I will be participating in any
competition run by Ambassador Darnov again.
Scribed by Seronia on the 28th day of August in the
year 602.