It's been a while since I've made it to an event, and Lochmere's Night of Fools was a special one for me. First, I authorized there three years ago when it was Night on the Piazza. Second, my friend Alexander Blood was playing her Free Scholar prize there. Third, my parents were in town to visit and meet Gin (now SCAdianly known as Simona dell'Amore) for the first time. So, big day, right? Well, it gets even better.
We arrived on site a little late, so I hectically armored up while the tournament was already underway. It was a single elimination designed to take a very small amount of time, because the Night on/f Somenewnameeachyear is a traditionally melee-intensive event. I barely had time to put my shirt on before I heard Gaston call my name.
"… and Dante!"
So, having not heard my opponent's name, I shouted out "Who was that other guy?"
"Dante!"
"No, the other guy!"
"His Royal Majesty, Cuan!"
So, I'm fighting the king right off the bat.
Round One:
Dante di Pietro versus King Cuan McDaige, rapier and dagger versus rapier and croquet mallet. (a sub-theme was fools' parrying devices—my argument was that people juggle knives all the time
)
Our first two passes end in weird things where we both know we got hit but not when or in what order. On the third pass, my sword's tip got caught up in my dagger's quillion, which was locked into his guard. We ended up grappling for position in an attempt to break free, but a hold was called because there was no way things were going to get sorted out on their own.
Our final pass ended when I locked my dagger on his blade and brought my own in from the side to score a solid hit to his chest. It was about then that I saw my life flash before my eyes as the six foot, easily 250+ pound multiple-time King of Atlantia, a land renowned the world over for the viciousness of its fighters, reverted to his heavy fighting training and swung the croquet mallet at my head. I am thankful for two things: first, that he was holding the head of the mallet in his hand, and second, he was skilled enough to pull the shot so well that it ended up as a very light tap to the side of my head. He apologized, I was okay, and that was the end of it.
Afterward, Duke Ragnarr Blackhammer told me he was impressed that I went body to body with Cuan, because evidently most of the heavy fighters are reluctant to do so.
1-0
Round Two
Dante di Pietro versus Dee, which is short for something Welsh and therefore unpronounceable. Epee and dagger versus epee and dagger.
She's easy for me. Pick the hand, take the body.
2-0
Round Three:
Dante di Pietro versus Duncan Gregor MacGregor, Provost. Rapier and dagger versus rapier and cloak.
Fortunately, I've been practicing against Aedan and his cloak quite a bit, and even though William warns me that Gregor is comparable in skill, he's evidently not as good with a cloak. We trade attempts at hand picks for a bit, and then he throws too deep a shot, which I parry, tie up, and move in with my long blade. He parries me with the cloak, and I drive my dagger into him while still on his sword. I'm not sure if he felt it because he kept moving, so I stick him with my rapier for good measure.
3-0
With single-elimination, the number of people drops down fairly quickly.
Semi-Finals Round Robin, consisting of Dante, Roland, Ragnarr, Chris mac an Conaig, and Marcellus.
Round Four:
Dante di Pietro versus Chris mac an Conaig, Free Scholar. Rapier and dagger and rapier and dagger.
Damn lefties! I need to practice with them more, I think. They're such a pain. Thankfully, I have reach and speed on Chris, and I am able to rake about 16 inches of steel across his eyes once I've cleared his rapier's point.
4-0
Round Five:
Dante di Pietro versus Marcellus, Provost. Rapier and dagger.
I guard-punch his dagger with my rapier and throw a dagger shot over his rapier and make a touch to his clavicle.
5-0
Round Six:
Dante di Pietro versus Roland, Provost. Rapier and dagger.
Roland is my primary sponsor for my Free Scholar's prize. This became mildly relevant later, but for now I just had another left handed fighter on my hands. Thankfully, I've fought Roland quite a bit in the past, and was able to feint a half-lunge and then insist through to my full range—just enough to strike his chest.
6-0
Round Seven:
Dante di Pietro versus Duke Ragnarr Blackhammer, Rapier and dagger and rapier and scabbard.
MORE lefties! Grah! Ragnarr has been King several times, is many inches taller than me, and is fast as hell. However, his big thing is fighting with his blade very far back and then doing a very fast, deep lunge. I know the trick, but I haven't figured out a good way around it yet. My guess is that the way to do it might just be to go aggressive as heck and negate the range advantage, but I was unable to do it this time and he tagged me.
6-1
Finals:
Dante v. Roland v. Ragnarr
I try to make an alliance with Roland, since he's my sponsor and all, but he decides to move like he's joining me and then backs me into a corner where he kills me, and then is killed by Ragnarr. That's what happens when people don't follow my plans.
Next, I watched as Alexander player her prize, which involves facing all Free Scholars present and then swearing an oath. It was pretty cool, and during some of the speeches by her sponsors she looked about half a step from tears. Much hugging was had by all, as well as congratulations. Yay!
We heft schlagers and head to the forest for the woods battle, where a wall and fences were set up for the first scenario. Basically the defenders hold out as long as they can against attackers who have limitless resurrections. Kenji and I were on the same team again, and we held side by side at the front of the line for a good long while, until I was finally armed after taking out two people and more than a few hands. Afterward, Ragnarr said to me that Kenji and I kept him from rolling our line until the very end. I was the last on my team to die, and Cuan granted me an honorable, if armless, defeat.
When my team was on offense, the defending team gave ground too quickly and was routed in no time at all. I never even got a chance to take the front of the line.
Next, we had another defensive melee, down a hill. The objective was to bypass a certain point on the path, which was about wide enough for 6 people to stand shoulder to shoulder across. On either side, the hills went up at a sharp 75 degree incline, so we were basically headed down into a trench with a forest on either side. The path was several hundred feet down and was a 45 degree slope when you're lucky. At the bottom, it flattened out for about 20 feet before the victory point was reached.
Kenji and I, along with a few others, took the right embankment and came down to engage from a flanking position. The enemy had decided to hold the line at the flat part, but we were still coming at them from above because of the shape of the trench. My team eventually cut them down one at a time and pushed them back beyond the victory point.
Their problem primarily had to do with taking the wrong ground to hold. I gathered several fencers with me, and we chose a spot on the path that had a level area right before a significant dropoff—and we held the dropoff. We had squads out to meet flankers, but the bulk of their assault went right up the middle. I held back at first to coordinate efforts and replace as needed, and I soon found myself up on the line. I legged a couple people and shouted commands to fall back, which were eventually heeded since it seems most people either can't or don't take/understand orders.
So, to make this more clear, my team will be designated as A, they are B, and their legged fencers are X.
XXXBB
AAAAA
Then:
XXXBB
AAAAA
Then:
XXXBB
AAAAA --> AAAAA
Then:
XXXBB____A
________A
_______A
_____AA
As you can see, we moved so that we had a 5 on 1-2 situation, and with Alexander and Freddy coming in from behind at the same time, they were lunch. We ended up eliminating all of them before anyone made it through the victory condition.
After that, each team had one representative hold a bridge about 3 feet wide. A lot of cool stuff happened here, but because of the heat and the sleepiness it's mostly a blur. The last people for each team double killed, so it was a draw.
Alexander took on all comers next as a second part of her prize. She got me when I missed a parry, and then we hugged and congratulated each other—of course, I don't get to wear the scarf until late May.
I ushered my friend Ihsan in her schlager authorization, and passed her even though she punched me in the face with her guard during the bout. It was my fault, really. I grabbed her guard to bring her blade off line and didn't clear it before I brought my head under.
There was some more sparring and so forth, and I did some dueling with Kenji again, who had his katana. We had some great fights I wish I had on tape. One in particular involved him ending up facing away from me, reversing the grip on his katana, and stabbing back behind him at me, which I countered by pushing the blade off line against his back and then drawing across the back of his neck as he spun away. It was movie cool.
The two chops to each of my biceps totally sucked, and now I have bruise stripes. Boo! But, I won that fight, so yay!
Court finally started, and when His Royal Majesty began, I was the first one called up. I am now officially the first member of the Order of the Sea Dragon, a new kingdom level award for rapier prowess that carries with it an Award of Arms. Therefore, I am now officially known as Lord Dante di Pietro. Whhhheeeeeeee!!!!!
Duke Ragnarr shared his prize from the tournament with me as well, so now I have some medieval game I don't know how to play yet.
Marcellus was awarded a shark's tooth, which is a military award for having a day of special badassery. THEN, and this was so amazing, my friend Dominyk was called into court. King Cuan granted him a shark's tooth—HIS OWN, in fact, which is WAY spiffy, and then, when he learned that Dominyk didn't have an AoA yet either, gave him the title of Lord also. He FLOATED back off the field, and there was much hugging and picture taking, including one where many hot women put their boobs on my head, because combat prowess is way sexy.
I've got a minor event in May, and then I play my Free Scholar's prize at Sapphire Joust!
