[Elfsea] Practice today

[Armand Dragonetti]

Indeed, I hope you, (Virgil), will not be out too long. Had I known that I
should be using list poles against you rather than sword and shield, I might
have faired better. :-)  We missed you today at another great practice at
Veteran's. Jean Paul remained in town, Centurian Almar, Duncan, several
members of the Fray and many others all helped to make our practice a
resounding success. And this on the heels of Saturday's fantastically fun
tournament put on by Master Airaklee and the wonderful Ladies of Glaslyn,
and many others. I don't remember when I've had such a fun and satisfying
weekend. This is the 3rd year that I've attended Glaslyn's Defender of the
Flame with their unique tournament format. It seems to grow each year. The
twinkle in His Majesty's eye and smile on His face as he acknowledged the
fun all were having confirmed the sincerity of His words when he expressed
his desire to not miss this event in the future. There's no doubt in my mind
that Glaslyn's event will continue to grow.

For those who may not know, Glaslyn's tournament format begins with a
typical first round, usually best two out of three, where the combatants
enter the list with their choice of weapon styles. At the conclusion of the
first round, the victors continue in round two (as "defenders") with weapons
of their choosing, but they face two combatants from the first round's
defeated, each armed only with single sword. If the "defender" defeats 2 on
1, then they take on three in the 3rd round, and so on. Once defeated, they
join the "attackers" and everyone gets to fight all day.  Saturday, Virgil
and Tomas were the only two to successfully defeat 5 attackers. In round 6,
both Virgil and Tomas were defeated by their six. It was decided to let them
fight 6 again, but the same 6, chosen by Her Majesty. (She chose well :-)
Again, both were defeated and another group of six were picked. Again,
stalemate. His Majesty then decided to skip 7, 8 and 9 and go straight to
10, but rather than 10 on 1, the fight was 10 on 2. The victor would be the
man who felled the most attackers before being subdued. The 10 were chosen,
5 by the Ladies of Glaslyn, 1 by Their Excellencies of the Steppes, and 4 by
Their Majesties. (I was honored beyond words, to be chosen by the Ladies of
Glaslyn to fight as one of the 10) Both Lord Tomas and Centurion Virgil
faced the overwhelming odds with great courage and valiant effort. In the
end, after brutal battle, Centurion Virgil emerged as Glaslyn's newest
Defender of the Flame. I leave it to others to recount the Archery and
Rapier lists, as I arrived too late to witness them. I do know that Don
Edward Mercer is Glaslyn's Rapier Defender and I believe it was John (or
perhaps Joseph) of the Sphinx (Spinks? forgive me) is the Archery Defender.
Don Brendan was selected Rapier Keeper of the Flame for his willingness to
forfeit an attempt to defend his title in order to marshal the rapier list.
His Excellency Baron Fritz was chosen as the Chivalric Keeper of the Flame
and since part of the prize afforded the Keeper's included items for their
Ladies, and Baroness Caitrin declined to award a prize to herself, she
ackowledged the intrepid efforts and resolve of a lady she observed all day
in the list, Melissa of Glaslyn, with those prizes. Well I've run on long
enough, can you tell that I *really* enjoyed this weekend?

To the Ladies of Glaslyn, the autocrat, Master Airaklee and his support
staff, the new Defenders and all the participating fighters I give my
personal "VIVAT!" for giving me such a memorable weekend!

In the service of kingdom and crown, I remain,
Lord Armand Dragonetti
Squire to Sir Romanius


> Oh dear.  Get well soon ,Virgil!
>
> And those who missed seeing him take on TEN men missed something worth
> seeing yesterday!
>
> Gerita
> humble chirurgeon
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: " Ron Walters" <rwalt5 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: <elfsea at ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 10:48 AM
> Subject: [Elfsea] Practice today
>
>
> > This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> > --
> > [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> > Greetings Elfsea,
> >
> >     Unfortunately my knee is swollen up like a grapefruit from the
> tournament yesterday (twisted it around the list rope poles). I think I am
> going to stay off of it today, yall have a great practice.
> >
> > Virgil von Augsburg
> > --