s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So, as you can see from the menu, the food at DA was plentiful and wonderful. We all ate way too much. But we did more than just eat. There were tournaments (heavy, rapier, arhcery). There were Arts and Sciences classes. And of course there was time to chat with friends from Auckland and Christchurch who had come down for the event.

Saturday morning we have the heavy-fighter championship. This involved 5 local fighters, and one visitor from Hamilton. While I did not win (the weapons I use certainly don’t help my chances), I had fun. Lief’s shield broke part way through the tourney, so when the time came for us to fight, I decided to do the fun and honroable thing, and fight him one-handed as well. The battles were a best-of-three contest, but with both of us weilding single swords, we kept simultaneously killing each other. I don’t know how many rounds that went, but we kept pitching over dead in unison, to the great amusement of the crowd. That evening the Baron of Southern Gaard gave us some small awards for our most amusing antics.

Only one small problem marred the event. Sunday I came down with a killer headache (migrane). In retrospect I know exactly what the cause was- feasting late into the night. I have found a strong correlation between going to bed with a full stomach (especially full of “heavy” food like meat) and a subsequent headache the next day. Usually this vulnerability is not a problem, as we eat early, but feasts like this one start later, and run into the evening with course after course. Sure, I could in theory abstain after the first course, but that is really hard when presented with steaming trays of yummy food!

My head exploding did not help my archery skills Sunday morning, so the championship slipped from my fingers. I knew it would, because the night before I was finally presented with Yanulf’s Arrow, the prize for winning the contest. I had won the previous two years, but nobody knew where the arrow was! The finally found it, presented it to me, and then I lost it 12 hours later! Hopefully next year I can win it back.