Their are days where I wake up before an event and honestly pray to God for a perfect event. Its not often; I'm just chaotic enough to enjoy a little havoc in my day, but still, when things need to happen right, I really, really want them to, and I try and make sure I do everything I can to help that happen.
Well, guess what. This weekend at Eldern... that's exactly what happened.
More to the point, just about everything that could go RIGHT, did.
and Just about everything that could have gone wrong... Didn't
I was only really there for the tournaments, my ride had obligations that kept us hopping throughout the day. but I showed up at Lady Muirenn's request to manage the site heralds, and things just started falling into place after that.
First of all, the first two people I had sign up were Lady Mave and her Sister Myren. I had seen Myren a few times before, but never seen her herald that I could recall. Mave assured me she knew the routine just fine. And Mave... well I knew she could teach me a few things, so I was good to go there.
Muirenn, for her part, was situated under the list mistresses' Pavilion effectively sweating bullets because she had never done List-mistressing before. HL Elizabeth De Calis was next to her, and much calmer, but equally inexperienced as I recall. I took the initiative and asked JP (their current champion) to check on his support crew. Part of that was because JP hadn't had a chance to say hi yet, and part of it was because Murienn looked like she was about to have a heart attack, and needed a little positive reinforcement.
JP walked over and spoke with both ladies for just a few minutes about how a classic "swiss five" format worked. He walked away very surprised at how receptive they were to basic instructions. I guess its something of a commonplace occurrence for people to argue with the system, but JP said they listened, nodded, asked questions, and then repeated back what they needed to know without any problems.
The tournaments themselves were something to beheld. Rapier and Heavy, each had their own field, and both heralded by an extremely competent, capable herald. I walked between the two fields, making sure my charges had water, shade, any just about anything else they needed.
The water Barrer's pavilion kept everyone loaded with fresh fruit, Gatorade, water, and cookies. A Job well done.
Something of a side note, one of my Heralds, Mave, was wanted to herald specifically so she wouldn't have to think about the fact that her husband was in the heavy weapons tournament. She wanted to stay busy, so I gave her the light weapon's field and told her to keep it well under watch.
Well, that worked until round four out of five was over, her lord, HL Aldrich De Kurr, was 4-0 and so far looking sharp. Going into round 5, it was known that if he won his fight, their would be a one-on-one fight off between him and the only other undefeated fighter on the field, Earl Daffyth.
Mave insisted on heralding the round, so I stood next to her as her husband was called out for the first fight. The round lasted three blows, Aldrich delivered all three of them with skull jarring efficiency. Mave was literally giddy with excitement, so much so that she was shaking as she tried to flip to the next set of cards and call out the next paring. I reached over and snatched the cards out of her hand. "Go kiss your husband, I've got this!" She didn't even hesitate, and shot off to be with Aldrich as he contemplated the fact that he was about to face off against a past King in the last round.
She came back a few minutes later, looking VERY relieved, and grateful for the chance to congratulate her husband. I let her call the last fights while I got ready to call the last round.
The two remaining fighters agreed to a single sword fight. To quote JP, the format would be simple.
Two men enter... One man leaves.
I stood in the middle of the field and called both men on by their full tile, and then declared to the audience that they were now witness to the final round of the event, and that the fatal blow delivered here would decide the next champion of Eldern Hills.
The Baron and Baroness both instructed the fighters towards their honorable conduct, and then the men came to the center of the field.
I called a full roll of salutes, and let each man take as much time as he wanted.
Mave was standing at the sidelines, practically shaking with excitement and worry.
After the final salute--honor to your opponent--was given, I stood asside and let the marshals command the field.
On 'lay-on', the two men moved in a slow circle, Daffyth making wide, steady motions, Aldrich moving with slow, deliberate steps, his thick arm cocked to deliver a blow the second he felt a target was open.
In one instant, both men fired. Dafyth's sword hit Aldrich's left arm...a severing blow by any measure.
But Aldrich's shot sent his weapon into Dafyth's helmit like a rifle shell. The good news for Daffyth was that his helmit stayed attached to his body... the bad news was that it stayed attached to his body!
The shot sent him flying like a rag doll. and a half second later, his helmit, and everything in it, hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
I exploded at the top of my lungs the instant I realized what I has seen. "Victor by right of arms! His Lordship, Aldrich De Kurr!"
When it was all over, and everything was said and done, the one thing everyone was saying was that the tournament couldn't have gone any better. It went through fast, it went smoothly, and it happened without any delays or problems.
A lot of people thanked me for my work organizing the heralding. But the truth of the mater is, and I told them this, that I was handed a great team of people who knew how to do the job, and a majority of the thanks was due to them.
Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
Well, guess what. This weekend at Eldern... that's exactly what happened.
More to the point, just about everything that could go RIGHT, did.
and Just about everything that could have gone wrong... Didn't
I was only really there for the tournaments, my ride had obligations that kept us hopping throughout the day. but I showed up at Lady Muirenn's request to manage the site heralds, and things just started falling into place after that.
First of all, the first two people I had sign up were Lady Mave and her Sister Myren. I had seen Myren a few times before, but never seen her herald that I could recall. Mave assured me she knew the routine just fine. And Mave... well I knew she could teach me a few things, so I was good to go there.
Muirenn, for her part, was situated under the list mistresses' Pavilion effectively sweating bullets because she had never done List-mistressing before. HL Elizabeth De Calis was next to her, and much calmer, but equally inexperienced as I recall. I took the initiative and asked JP (their current champion) to check on his support crew. Part of that was because JP hadn't had a chance to say hi yet, and part of it was because Murienn looked like she was about to have a heart attack, and needed a little positive reinforcement.
JP walked over and spoke with both ladies for just a few minutes about how a classic "swiss five" format worked. He walked away very surprised at how receptive they were to basic instructions. I guess its something of a commonplace occurrence for people to argue with the system, but JP said they listened, nodded, asked questions, and then repeated back what they needed to know without any problems.
The tournaments themselves were something to beheld. Rapier and Heavy, each had their own field, and both heralded by an extremely competent, capable herald. I walked between the two fields, making sure my charges had water, shade, any just about anything else they needed.
The water Barrer's pavilion kept everyone loaded with fresh fruit, Gatorade, water, and cookies. A Job well done.
Something of a side note, one of my Heralds, Mave, was wanted to herald specifically so she wouldn't have to think about the fact that her husband was in the heavy weapons tournament. She wanted to stay busy, so I gave her the light weapon's field and told her to keep it well under watch.
Well, that worked until round four out of five was over, her lord, HL Aldrich De Kurr, was 4-0 and so far looking sharp. Going into round 5, it was known that if he won his fight, their would be a one-on-one fight off between him and the only other undefeated fighter on the field, Earl Daffyth.
Mave insisted on heralding the round, so I stood next to her as her husband was called out for the first fight. The round lasted three blows, Aldrich delivered all three of them with skull jarring efficiency. Mave was literally giddy with excitement, so much so that she was shaking as she tried to flip to the next set of cards and call out the next paring. I reached over and snatched the cards out of her hand. "Go kiss your husband, I've got this!" She didn't even hesitate, and shot off to be with Aldrich as he contemplated the fact that he was about to face off against a past King in the last round.
She came back a few minutes later, looking VERY relieved, and grateful for the chance to congratulate her husband. I let her call the last fights while I got ready to call the last round.
The two remaining fighters agreed to a single sword fight. To quote JP, the format would be simple.
Two men enter... One man leaves.
I stood in the middle of the field and called both men on by their full tile, and then declared to the audience that they were now witness to the final round of the event, and that the fatal blow delivered here would decide the next champion of Eldern Hills.
The Baron and Baroness both instructed the fighters towards their honorable conduct, and then the men came to the center of the field.
I called a full roll of salutes, and let each man take as much time as he wanted.
Mave was standing at the sidelines, practically shaking with excitement and worry.
After the final salute--honor to your opponent--was given, I stood asside and let the marshals command the field.
On 'lay-on', the two men moved in a slow circle, Daffyth making wide, steady motions, Aldrich moving with slow, deliberate steps, his thick arm cocked to deliver a blow the second he felt a target was open.
In one instant, both men fired. Dafyth's sword hit Aldrich's left arm...a severing blow by any measure.
But Aldrich's shot sent his weapon into Dafyth's helmit like a rifle shell. The good news for Daffyth was that his helmit stayed attached to his body... the bad news was that it stayed attached to his body!
The shot sent him flying like a rag doll. and a half second later, his helmit, and everything in it, hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
I exploded at the top of my lungs the instant I realized what I has seen. "Victor by right of arms! His Lordship, Aldrich De Kurr!"
When it was all over, and everything was said and done, the one thing everyone was saying was that the tournament couldn't have gone any better. It went through fast, it went smoothly, and it happened without any delays or problems.
A lot of people thanked me for my work organizing the heralding. But the truth of the mater is, and I told them this, that I was handed a great team of people who knew how to do the job, and a majority of the thanks was due to them.
Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"
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