SCA -- Ice Castles

This was the 20th anniversary of the Black Diamond event Ice Castles, and was a sad one because Baronness Giovanna (also know as Orlando, a Free Scholar in her male persona) and Baron Edwin were stepping down and moving to Delaware, which is located in the hated East Kingdom. While they are thankfully going to be near enough to many northern events that we will still see them on a regular basis, they will no longer be the mainstays of Atlantian culture that they have been for years.

Gin and I made the drive out to Isenfir the night before, where we met Adam and Gianetta, had dinner, and then carpooled out to Black Diamond where we had a hotel reservation. The total trip was about 3 hours, so by the time we got there we all fell asleep for many hours. A highlight of the trip was at a gas station where some woman started to drive off without taking the gas nozzle out of her car, and Adam bellowed "Hold!" across the lot, which is the word fighters use to signal a need to stop all movement immediately.

We showed up in time for morning court, where Giovanna and Edwin abdicated to the new Baron and Baroness of Black Diamond, and were also given court baronial titles by King Ragnarr and Queen Kynebuhr. Giovanna and Edwin took the opportunity to give out several awards before they stepped down as a way of showing appreciation to everyone who had helped them before they left.

Gin (here known as Ciar) ended up running the tournaments as the Minister of the Lists, and did a great job. She opted for 8 rounds of Swiss (which proved to be 2 rounds more than was necessary), but Swiss or round-robin always guarantees an equal number of fights for all, unlike double elimination. I ushered a new fighter named Allistair and failed him for unsafe calibration, but he passed later in the day at a second attempt. One thing that was cool was that Alejandro told him to work with me when I had a chance because I have "superior bladework" or something like that, so yay!

I was planning to fight Geoffrey Gamble, who had surprised us all by showing up, but I ushered instead. I felt really sluggish, and realized later that I was probably dehydrated from the night before, as I fatigued much faster than I normally do and never really had energy to begin with, even though I was eating plenty.

A whole bunch of people were there, including a few I'd never had a chance to fight before, so I was happy. I knew going in that with 4 provosts showing that I was unlikely to win, but I figured that I could make a good showing.

Round 1: Dante v. Gunny's lady, whose name I feel awful for not being able to remember, sword and dagger.

I kill her quick, with minimal bladework on either of our parts. She is fairly inexperienced, so whatever.

1-0
3 points

Round 2: Dante v. Free Scholar Briana of Skye, sword and dagger.

She tricks me by being aggressive, which is totally unlike her. She's also lost a couple sizes since the last time we fought, so my blade misses her by less than half an inch on her side, and she gets me. I was totally unprepared for her being aggressive like that.

1-1
3 points

Round 3: Dante v. Free Scholar Christian von Nuremburg, single epee.

This took all of 20 seconds. He shot at my arm, but it went up the sleeve of my armor under my shirt and got tangled up while I hit him in the stomach. I never felt any contact to me and by the time we stopped the angle wasn't at me, so I picked up the win. I'm not entirely sure what happened there.

2-1
6 points

Round 4: Dante v. William of Glencoe, schlager and dagger.

He catches me sleeping and I get hit on the first shot by someone who I really should beat 19 times in 20. Grrrr. I was just not on today.

2-2
6 points

Round 5: Dante v. Annika, single dagger.

That was her idea. I take her right arm with a slash to the wrist, and her left hand with a thrust.

3-2
9 points

Round 6: Dante v. Provost Geoffrey Gamble, epee and dagger.

Geoffrey and I have two clusterfuck passes and then finally double kill. This is the second time we've done that in tournaments, and only the second time we've met. We traditionally have good, solid, dragged out fights full of ass kicking awesomeness when we spar at practice though. I really woke up here and fought the way I should have all day.

3-2-1
10 points

Round 7: Dante v. Provost Vyvyan Broussard, epee and dagger.

Vyvyan is the provost that the other provosts want to be someday. He's just *that* good—precise, fast, explosive… he's sickeningly good. I fight him like I fight Geoffrey, and end up closing on him, but there was some confusion on what happened. I slashed his throat while he drew across my chest, but he didn't feel the slash and asked about a thrust to his stomach that I had evidently made—which I didn't know about. Since neither of us could figure out the order of blows, we kept fighting (I should have taken a double kill, since Vyvyan went completely undefeated all day, even against Gunny, Connor, Christian, Geoffrey… he's SO GOOD. I sparred with him later and he kicked my ass, but I did pretty well considering the competition). Our second pass ended with us both locking blades in quillions and having nothing to do but drive out of bounds. Then, we reset, the marshal asked if we were ready, Vyvyan said yes, the marshal called to start, and he tagged me. The part missing from the last statement was the part when I said I was ready—we started too close together and I got hit for it. Oh well. Gunny and Connor said I raised some eyebrows by lasting as long as I did anyway, so I can't complain.

3-3-1
10 points

Round 8: Dante v. Gianetta, epee and dagger.

I kill her fast—she gets very nervous in tournaments and doesn't fight as well as she can. She's getting better about that, though.

4-3-1
13 points

So, out of 16 people I finished 6th, behind all 4 provosts (Vyvyan, Connor, Geoffrey, and Gunny), and Christian, who was second place overall. While I wish I'd done better in a couple fights, I generally can't complain about my showing, considering the competition present. I think I have firmly entrenched myself in the realm of "good enough to be good, but not good enough to be great". Talk to me in another few years and we'll see how things go.

Afterward I sparred with Christian, Vyv, and Gunny. I did much better against Gunny than I did the last time I fought him, nearly a year ago. Christian and Vyv both totally kicked my ass, but I figured out some of Vyv's tricks and I am going to try and use them myself. Christian is left handed and uses a low guard, which is a combination of something I don't have much experience against with something I have trouble with, so it got ugly. I was also nearly dead on my feet by the end of the day.

Adam, Gianetta, Ciar, and I grabbed some food at a nearby restaurant, then took the long trek home. Ciar and I loaded up my car once we were in Charlottesville where Adam and Gianetta live, gave it a few minutes to heat up, and headed off. By the time we finally got back to Richmond it was nearly midnight, and I think there was a good ten hours of sleep plus several hours of afternoon napping later.