Pennsic - Part 2

Monday morning I awoke, butterflies in my stomach.  I grabbed something lite to eat and then headed to Carillion to pick up my tithe for the OGR meeting.  Jehannine made me a keg of home brewed porter.  I carried the keg out to the field and waited for the day to begin for me.  I felt I was warm enough and decided not to do any pickups in the morning.  I found out I had been paired against the baby Midrealm Warder for the champions bout.  Getting to the East Kingdom tent, I was in a good mood.  I dropped my stuff and then from across the tent I spotted my ex-wife.  My mood shattered and I started pacing.  I know I should not have let it affect me so, but it did.  When the tournament started she was no where in sight, so my mood started to improve.  I was the 15th fight out of the 20 single bouts.

I can recall my opening shot.  I thought I had him.  My tip placement was perfect, right inside my opponents right shoulder, no parry, no movement from his buckler.  Unfortunately, I just dimpled his fabric, not scoring a touch he could feel.  Then there was an exchange of blades, and somehow my blade got trapped in my opponents guard.  Not the tip, but about 4-6" behind the tip.  It was wedged in good.  Once I noticed the blades were entangled, I dropped my blade and my opponent dropped his.  We tried to work my blade free but were unable to.  The marshals took over trying to free my blade.  While watching them, I figured I should unscrew my pommel and drop the furniture off the blade, so that it would take weight off the back end.  Eventually after about 2 minutes they got my blade out, and with no damage to it (surprisingly).  The tip popped off so it was re-taped on.  The bout was restated and I just was not the same as I was prior.  I knew I was not sharp, though I tried.  I was back on my heels and my opponent landed a beautiful light thrust to my throat.  It took me a second to realize it as the calibration was spot on (plus through an over the mask hood, the bib of the mask, and my gorget).  Eh, so I lost my bout.  And we lost the war point by 1 bout, with the final score being Midrealm - 11 / East Kingdom - 10.

So thoughts from champions:

• What a freaky thing to happen, with getting bound like that.  Next time I need to remember I had a dagger in my offhand and close for the kill.   (kidding... I think I did the right thing.)
• I had thought about taking out a longer blade.  I had been using the 39" Darkwood since March.  I had thought prior to the fight and as they were getting my blade unstuck that maybe I should think about switching to the 43" blade.  This had me second guessing myself through the remainder of the bout and afterwards.  Next time, go with my gut.
• Redouble and second intentions need to become a better part of my game.  My point was on target with my opening shot but just a hair short.  Had I made the step in with the shot or even afterwards, the point would have been mine.
• I was saving myself for champions in the early part of war.  I'm glad I did not injure myself before I had a chance to fight.  I think not doing any warmup bouts was the right call for me on that day.  Each day will be different.

 After Rapier Champions, we had an unofficial OGR meeting.  This being my first meeting, I brought some booze, as did Davius.  Jehannine made me a 5 gallon keg of porter that was amazing.  Davius made a bucked of 1-800-mess-you-up or some such concoction which hit you hard but tasted damn good.  I love a good beer, but normally cannot drink a lot.  I wound up having 5-6 mugs of the porter.  Needless to say, I was drunk.  We discussed a few things with the prince and princess.  And of course there was much drinking too... oh, and cookies.  Now I can neither confirm nor deny who ate the cookies the prince allegedly left behind, but had I partaken of said cookies, they must have been tasty.

Having not had much to eat, a bunch of TOAD went to the food court.  Drunken times in the food court was hilarious.  After food, I retrieved the remainder of the keg and brought it with me to Sharc Pit so that it would be a little lighter to carry.  We brought the keg to a Midrealm camp, where I shared the beer and they shared tiramisu.  Finally with the day being done, I dragged the keg back to Jehannine's camp.  It was reported to me that the remainder filled just over a growler.  I'd say that was a pretty good day of drinking.  No clue what I did that night other than pass out.

To be continued.... Part 3 - Rapier Woods battle