Another Fighting Tournament

IC General Chat
1

It’s that time of year again, where we have a small get-together to remind ourselves that the settlement still exists even though we’ve retreated to warm, isolated locations to wait out the winter.

Given the changes and new management, I don’t think a proper Lothlan tournament is going to be quite as appropriate as it has in the past. A nice Kalmak gentleman holding a Senior Partnership in our new corporate overlords has approached me about running some sort of test of skill, however, and so I will provide such a thing.

I’ve got a few ideas in mind that might be more inclusive to the new feel of the settlement, and I’ll lay them out here and decide which to run based on general consensus.

  1. I believe there is a Felicitoro dueling style that would be highly appropriate here. I don’t recall the proper Felicitoro name for it, but it is a dual-wield tournament - rapier and goblet. Spilling any liquid from the goblet counts as a loss, and I would run the tournament with blunt blades to 5 touches, last to the torso.

  2. There’s a more fun Felicitoro style that involves two daggers and a towel. Letting go of the towel or unconsciousness is a loss.

  3. Something I thought up that really embodies the kind of corporate maneuvering I expect to see around here is my third idea.

  • Each bout contains 4 contestants.
  • At the beginning of each bout, each contestant receives the name of one other contestant.
  • The last contestant standing advances to the next round.
  • The contestant that received the name of the last contestant standing also advances to the next round, despite the fact that they were knocked unconscious.

Tournaments would be double-elimination or truncated-round-robin, and I believe that our corporate overlords will provide prizes, as I don’t think simple renown will be sufficiently motivating for much entertainment when we already have a ready bar available.

So, Oak Harbor, let me know what you’d like to see for martial entertainment this Feast.

1 Like
2

I would like to begin by thanking you, Vance, for putting together this pastime for the more athletically inclined of us. While our esteemed friends at the White Forest Trading Company have likely put together a whole of host of… whimsical, to use their expression, games and entertainments for us, and while everyone likes some rest and recreation, I expect some of us are most looking forward to these activities you are coordinating. As you say, I do so hope our valued town government has some prizes ready, since while competing for honor and renown is amusing, when there is something more on the line it becomes downright exhilarating. Your organizing this does surprise me, given it was a Kalmak who asked, and I applaud your willingness to overlook your people’s historical enmity with theirs for the benefit of the rest of us. Between that and the fact that organizing this competition is no mean feat, I hope you are well compensated. and would like to register my displeasure with the Town Council if you are not.

On to the actual substance of my discourse, a reply to your request, I can see up and down sides to each style of tourney. I must confess my preferred mode is the final of your offerings, as I will expound below. I would like to address them in order, however, and will thus start with the sword and cup form. It certainly levels the playing field between most weapon and armor styles, although I must point out that those who follow the call of Firmament may have trouble knowing which end of the sword to hold. It sounds like you wish exclude skillful blows and spells from this style, which I would have to agree, but I am not sure whether to consider its escalating difficulty an interesting challenge or a concerning hazard. As we fight, and people lose, we would see the occasional spill, causing the floor to become filmed with wine. As the footing gets worse, more people would spill, exacerbating previous mishaps. I do worry someone might fall and crack their head.

The second style carries much fewer of the aforementioned concerns, since any child could wield a dagger, and we have no worsening conditions to contend with. It would be my pick if not for the attraction of your last offering. While it is somewhat exclusive to those of us more trained in combat, it opens the field to a much larger variety of combat styles than your first suggestion. Theoretically those more geared to production could still borrow a dagger and participate, but I am unsure if they have that inclination. It is also a much more tactical arrangement, since the incentives for who one targets are skewed by the naming conventions, and would lead to interesting, circular, cautious fighting, where I think your second idea would lead to wild flailing. As a wise person once told me: “No one wins a knife fight.” At least, not without bringing a sword.

In any case, to me, your propositions are appealing to me in their reverse order, with your utmost proffering being the most relying on skill and thought, and your second resting on who has the most raw athleticism.

I do apologize for my brevity. I am somewhat consumed by work, and while I would have liked to give your announcement the attention it both deserves and demands, I must away to several of my other undertakings. I look forward to whatever format you settle on.

Quiet

2 Likes
3

I am definitely leaning towards running the backstabbing tournament. It seems like the most interesting of the three to me as well, as well as the most inclusive.

4

I reckon I’ll have to dig my armor out from where I had packed it, then. The other two didn’t seem cut out for a staff fighter, but I’ll let someone stab my back cheerfully enough.

Do y’know if there’ll be a forge for fixing it, or will I just have to take it off if I make it to a second round?

  • Mehlani