Life update & help needed with planning childrens quest

Hi there

Sorry - been very quiet on here - I do apologise.

Okay - update on Life.

November Crown
I went to Innilgard last November and was one of 11 fighters that took the field to fight for the Crown of Lochac.
Only 1 Knight out of 11 fighters.
I came 3rd.
With a Glaive.
A very, valiant effort, even if I do say so myself. There were a number of people watching me enter a semi-final, considering that I could well be the next King.
I lost to Sir Phillipe - however I suspect I took most of what he had left, for he lost the final Theuderic, who has since been crowned King (he was my main concern on entering the tournament - with proven good reason obviously).
On the Sunday morning, the King at the time invited me to take up the role of his Champion (as Theuderic had abandoned the role in becoming Prince).
I took the field that day in the Rose Tournament, had a brilliant day fighting and was declared winner of the day by popular opinion.
My fighting has finally reached those heights I knew I could reach.

There followed at the start of December William Marshal Tournament & Feast.
Tournament went well - my fighting was still at the heights I reached at Crown Tourney - it wasn't just a fluke.
Feast also went well. Great food courtesy of Baroness Gwir & her staff (again, as always).

Xmas came & went - relatively quiet & peaceful.
New Year Eve - Games & BBQ at Dave & Kylies - good fun night with friends.

Then Stormhold hosted the Surveying Expedition on the Australia Day Weekend - great event at Ava's farm in Napoleon, Victoria (just south of Ballarat).

Now I find myself thinking ahead to Festival.

Should I run another Childrens Quest - I think I should but am having trouble putting together a plot - Not sure if we have time to put into more Baldrics for a Queens Militia (and that really works best with Yolande as Queen I think).

Any ideas more than welcome - let me know. Write here or email me.

The changing priorities in life

It used to be that Monthly Bash was the biggest day of my month - and all focus of that weekend was around going to & fighting at monthly bash.

Today I find myself thinking of all the things I should probably be doing instead - and those things will probably win, because whilst I like the idea, when I start considering translating the idea into fact, all the effort involved starts to become too much.

Of all the different activities in my life, SCA is falling behind (and yet I'm already thinking ahead to Rowany Festival (possibly taking on a major position if some with influence over me are successful). I'm also considering several wayfarings, Aneala for Midwinter (will depend on who wins May Crown), Mordenvale for Spring War (95% certain & Judith is about 80% to come with me), and Canterbury Faire next year (Judith may do that instead of Rowany Festival).

I must also admit that having been without my computer for a long time, there is a big tempation to stay at home & play games (specifically Total War, Medieval 2, Kingdoms, which is one of the all time great strategy games.

I am also starting to have second thoughts about Hockey. The game itself is okay, but where last year the club had 1.5 teams, this year we have about .8 of a team, changing members every week & I don't know if it will settle down.
There is also talk of a member coming back who'd I'd rather we went without due to his complete lack of courtesy & sportsmanship towards the other teams - a really bad example.

LARP on the other hand, is becoming a bigger part of my life, with us now planning out all of the BIF events, as well as PG (which is a bit quieter this year due to a wedding).

Table top role-playing is going strong - with my home game (AD+D) still traveling quite successfully - my players are currently exploring "The Maze of the Eye" looking for a manuscript. When making the maze I was inspired by all of the Indiana Jones movies, as well as some stargate stuff.

Rowany Festival - Final part (3) - Even more fighting & fun

54 days till I travel.

Sorry about the lag in time since my last post, but I've not had inspiration recently to write. The Travel agent I'm dealing with is on holidays (back this week) - so I'll be contacting people after I talk with her & collect my tickets.

Now, Rowany Festival, the final part.

Monday (Fighter Auction day).
A couple of things I left off the last post were the evening before the fighter auction, the fighters all get auctioned off & bought (its a fund-raising thing - the money all goes into a pool & is used towards things that further the Rowany Festival & the Kingdom) by people we refer to as Patrons.
The fighters will fight for the fun of it (and also to get an idea of where they stand on a Kingdom level (as this is the largest annual tournament in the our Kingdom - last year had over 100 fighters, this year had just over 80).
The Patrons support their fighters & will collect a prize dependant on how well their purchased fighter(s) do.
The populace at large donate gifts to the prize table (I have seen everything from bottles of beer and a drink token for the tavern through to helmets & valuable pieces of armour up for grabs over the years (and have seen prices for fighters as low as 50c & as high as $250.00 (and beyond)).

This years format was that each fighter had 5 tokens and had 1hr within which to challenge fighters until they lost all their tokens.
In the end I had won 7 tokens & lost 5, whilst enjoying some great fighting. The second part of the tourney then saw the top 18 (of which I learnt the bottom 3 had won 8 fights a piece, so I only just missed out) all fought in an elimination tournament.

I think this years tournament concept was really good - in previous years it has been a single kill, double elimination tournament - which means a lot of lower level fighters are out in 2 fights (hardly worth putting their armour on). This variation is much fairer as any fighter will get a minimum of 5 fights (more if they fight each as a best of three) and for those fighters who do better it also gives everyone another level to be judged on (stamina & staying power).

Following the tournament the King ordered his Knights to council - having forgotten their pre-arranged destiny in assaulting the Childrens Fort.
After keeping the kids occupied for around 45 mins & still no sign of the Knights, Duchess Yolande unleashed the children & they started to jeer & rhyme at the Knights council (from up the hill) with the hopes of having the knights come out & fight them.

After some enthusiastic jeering from the children (with much quiet laughter from adults within earshot - none wanted to officially condone what the children were doing (disturbing an important meeting) - a small number of knights finally appeared & took to the field. The children formed ranks behind the walls of their fort & all was in readiness. The small number of Knights were joined by a couple of men at arms & then chaos ensued. After much Knight killing was had, the Knights traded with the Children for the fort and the kids then all sat back to enjoy the spoils of their victory (the Knights had been equipped with victory tokens which the children traded for spoil bags (containing chocalate eggs I believe).

As Monday afternoon continued, people commence & continued to pack up, whilst the rest of us continued to enjoy the fun environment that is Rowany Festival. In the afternoon was closing court - then cars came onsite & packup really kicked off.

A final night of partying with various friends and a quiet reflection upon the Crossroads site.

Tuesday was packup all but the tent & bedding, as well as helping various people all over packup their stuff (& Berengar the Autocrat with his stuff). A quiet dinner with Libby (after showers at the truckstop) and then we were up & away on Wednesday morning.

Next year is a whole new challenge, with different thoughts running through my head with how & where to camp.

And I'm going to run another quest for the kids - any ideas are welcome - I suspect I may be inspired by upcoming trip overseas.

Bye for now - 54 days till I travel.

Rowany Festival - Part 2 - Fighting & fun continued

Okay - last time I wrote I covered up to Friday.

Saturday
Day starts with the market - wander in to see what's cooking & help with arranging a few tables - then wander back with money & do a little shopping once things kick off. Some nice stuff (and silly swords) around, however not really looking to buy much this year - saving money for Pennsic and my new helmet. I did buy some great Lochac dice though (must get around to sending that email to Sir Gregory) and some really good beef jerky (Bowen of BordersCros is really good at making it - I should have bought more than just 4 bags).
I am however soon snatched away from the market to sell children (its a calling). Holy cow but we had a lot of children this year in the childrens boffer tournament (Vandel really has created a monster & since he was pushed by Yolande, we know where the blame really belongs - good job guys). Anyhow, after selling off 48 or so children (and making as much money in one year as we have in the last 3) with my assistants, I left the children to fight it out for the tournament. I was enjoying a day off and relaxing & went shopping a little more.
I mulled through the day, relaxing and not running a quest for the kids (which I have done for the past few years), watching the occasional troop come past our campsite (although Lorchan did set a bunch of them after me in my campsite).
In the afternoon we had the big court of the day - with Vandel announcing both the victor of the boffer & his successor (he'll still be involved of course). Court continued with some nice role-playing leading to the spliting of war forces between Alfar (the Usurper) & Draco (the Pretender). Night came & more sociallising, fire-hopping, etc.

Sunday
War day - glorious war day.
Up with eagerness, because of all days, this is the one that I had been waiting for. Up, breakfasted & armoured up - off to the battle field for war (I forgot to mention in my previous post that I had a nice new red & gold surcoat to fit in with the Colus guys - much brighter than theirs & quite cool if I do say so myself).
During the initial preping at the field I noticed my Marshal's Tabard in Sir Steven's hands (I had lost it the previous Festival). I got it back & then got to Marshal the first set of 3 battles - no dramas.
Ute unfortunately had bow troubles during the first set of 3 battles & by the time I knew, she had walked back to camp (bow twisted and she couldn't fix it - I did eventually - it took 15 mins of fine tuning (without armour on)).
Steven is to be congratulated (& Cortain). They did an excellent job of planning out the battles - the spray paint start lines were great & made assisting as a step in Marshal much easier.
This year I was fighting with Blayney - unfortunately, due to various factors the Colus shield wall was down from the hoped for 12 or so fighters and there was just 3 of us - but we had fun. I really like working with Blayney - we get along well & both have a good battlefield awareness - I just have to get used to operating in a primary group rather than a fringe flanking unit.
Best fight of the day was probably the field battle where I got legged early & then killed 3 people from my knees (including lots of travel) and survived.
Lunch came & everyone left (except me). I camped out at the Battlefield, had some lunch, then caught up with Baron Gabriel (St Florians) - quite good really, he's a nice guy with a good view of the world & always interesting to talk with.
Everyone came back & we fought some more - some plans didn't go as planned but we still won the day and had a ball doing it. Only downside was that we only used the town 4 times & the fort once. After the really long walk back to camp I went for a shower, then got back to camp in time for dinner (Richard had cooked up a brillant Roast in our Camp Oven). I got my serving, a beer & then headed off to the Marshals meeting).
Another good night with many friends.

Its late & I should go to bed - the rest will have to be in part 3 - good night.

On a side note, the big travel plans are in final confirmation with travel agent.

Rowany Festival - Part 1 - Fighting, Wenching & lots of fun

Ah, Rowany Festival - the SCA highlight of each year.

For those who aren't familiar, a quick description. The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) in Australia has an annual Festival run by the Sydney group (Rowany) over the Easter long weekend each year. Most people arrive on the Thursday (afternoon or night) and leave Monday night or Tuesday morning. The time in between is a magical mix of friendship, trust & fun.

We have just finished unpacking our trailer, having returned yesterday afternoon (and then eating a wonderful roast dinner provided by my Mum who housesits for us while we're away).

So, here with is a brief run-down on my Festival, day to day.

Monday, 2 April
Pack car & trailer in preparation for Festival - trailer much easier this year without all of the LARP monsters (the last couple of years I have taken Live-Action RolePlaying monster constumes alongs to use during Saturday afternoon quests that I have been running - light but bulky).

Tuesday
Leave home just after 8:30am after a hearty porridge breakfast. Easy trip with plenty of breaks & arrive onsite at Crossroads (the venue for this Festival & the last 4). Walk around & say hi to a few people who are around - then return to camp, set-up tent & bed - then wander off & drink a bit.
Started the campfire in Arrowsreach camp - they had the wood & I like fire so a good combination (also, they didn't seem to be in any rush to get it on with other things on their minds).

Wednesday
Wander down to Arrowsreach campsite & assist them to get truck unpacked (including the great fort built by Bryce & Ant). Wander back to our campsite (Ypotryll) and start setting up kitchen area and unpack trailer (which Ute had started). Wander around & helped a little here & there as needed (no where near as much as previous days).
Wandered to the tavern in the evening to enjoy some pre-festival merriment. Forever more the pre-weekend Wednesday will be known as Nipple Wednesday - a wonderful evening watching Eamon try to leave & fail. He is a lovely chap & exists just to enjoy life and does it well.

Thursday
More mulling around & helping people in the morning, as well as just socialising & catching up with people from all over Lochac that I haven't seen in many months if not a year. Encouraged the kids to make a fort out of straw bales on the village green (that were still waiting to be collected).
Then the Festival fighting kicked off in the afternoon with a Pas De Arms (with Sir Berengar holding the field with Andre (from Aneala), Simon Macfaolin (now from Rowany) and later on Baron Gabriel (St Florians) - squire to Sir Berengar. The fighting was good - but I didn't do to well and was really hoping it wasn't indicative of how my Festival would be (it wasn't). I did end up with some lovely bruises on both upper arms and some good fighting afterwards in pickups (starting to show my form - finally). Helped out Ferret's lady (Leah I think) with how to deal with a pole-weapon - she was already good looking and was stunning in her pretty White Company vestments and armour.
Whilst I was fighting my household started turning up (yay). As they seemed under control I left them alone & returned after my fighting & started catching up.
In the evening I wandered a few campsites - offered to assist Arrowsreach in the Heraldic Melee the next morning if needed and then continued wandering - again renewing friendships & making new ones. Wandered into DX and was Wenching within one minute of arriving (after & whilst exchanging friendly insults with Max). It's good to know that I still have it.

Friday
Got my morning jug of Tea (yes, jug) and wandered down to Arrowsreach to find out if I was needed. After a bit of counting it became apparent I was needed so took a surcoat & returned to camp to armour up.
Heraldic Melee was fun but slow (as it always is). Many groups taking far too long to get themselves organised.
We fought the King (Alfar) & his guard first - unfortunately, their plan circumvented ours & I died very quick to Adam the Renegade & his flanking force.
2nd up we fought the Northern force (including King Draco - yes there were 2 Kings). I did fairly well, killed a couple of people & then moved to assist others until Draco found me & we fought - he killed me but I took his legs (a happy trade on my part).
3rd we fought Aneala (including Sui). Unfortunately he tried to be nice & only hit me lightly in the head, so I called it light & was one of 3 to kill him. Moving on I suddenly found only Arrowsreachians left standing - we all stood, turning slowly looking for someone to kill - uncertain in our victory (it was unexpected).
Following the 3 rounds we then did 3 team melees - I did well in these as well & felt that my war/melee fighting was coming back to me as well as my 1 on 1 fighting - very happy about this.

The afternoon was a very mild / small war - not many people made their way to the war field - it is always disappointing on the Friday afternoon that more people don't make it to war. Friday night was more socialising & campfire-hopping.

I'll continue with more in Part 2 - but have to go for now.