The Tournament
It's sunny and about midday. I'm very hungry - I only just found out that lunch is not provided in the catering arrangement I have with a warband, and there's no time to eat before the tournament anyway.
Flynn arrives moderately early with Izkander and has a few warm up duels with Canberra LARPers. He shows off a new rapier prototype he intends to fight with and has a warm up fight with Ithacan the Beast Hunter. They swap blades so Ithacan can try the rapier. Flynn strikes the swept hilt, which breaks, and Flynn throws Ithacan's sword to the ground, swearing. Ithacan is very sorry, but it is not his fault. Flynn is angry but Steve is calm and explains that it's only a prototype, it was never really made to fight and he didn't know how strong it would be anyway. He is still disappointed - he worked hard on that rapier and he loves it, but he takes it back to the tea shop and exchanges it for another sword. He has the pick of Elysian Forge's weapons, and chooses an iron hilted Polish sabre.
The tournament master asks Flynn to compete in the Advanced division. Flynn gives his name as "Flynn" only, saying "Flynn is all you'll need". He may be the only one on the roll without a second name or any titles. He is given number 7.
The rules state that hits against a player are a demerit of 1, mutuals a demerit of 3. Those with the fewest demerits at the end of a round move on to the following round.
First round, Flynn fights a young elf, wins in single swing. Fights another young fighter, wins in single swing or at least very quickly, with little or no exchange of blows.
In the second round, Flynn is given number 3. He fights Emil of the Coterie. They are dressed much the same. There is a mutual strike but as Flynn takes the hit across the face there is some discussion of what to do. Flynn says he would like to fight again, and Emil is warned. It is a difficult, long fight, but Flynn wins.
Flynn fights Ithacan, who uses his long sword, and Flynn wins, though it is a long and energetic fight. Flynn has studied Ithacan's style in his previous fights and is wary of long reaching strikes to his legs.
Flynn fights Sir Bernhard of the Dawn Blades, and after a brief exchange the fight ends with a mutual strike to both forearms.
The other fighters all salute Flynn, but he simply stands ready.
The two highest ranked fighters of previous rounds were Flynn and Ithacan, so in the final round they are to fight to best of 3. This time, Flynn salutes, as they have fought before. There is a significant exchange; Ithacan's sword is long but heavy. Flynn wins.
Another exchange and Flynn wins with a false edge strike to Ithacan's forearm. Ithacan says he was wary of the strike having seen it in Flynn's warm up fights, but he couldn't stop it. They shake hands and talk.
The young elf from the first round thanks him for winning after beating him so convincingly.
The winners of the various divisions are awarded, as are the runners up and Best and Fairest, which goes to Emil in the advanced division.
Iskander asks Flynn as he proudly holds his sabre up to applause from the crowd as his name is announced. "Who do you work for?". Flynn replies "I work for myself".
After the tournament, Flynn compliments Emil and says he was a very worthy opponent, perhaps the most worthy, though the competition was very good, and the only legal strike against him was from Sir Bernhard. Emil says that winning "best and fairest" plus runner up (or something) would earn him more winnings than the actual winner, so asks to wager on a duel in a few days. Flynn says he would be happy to. They discuss the mind games of swordplay, the art of intimidation that helped Flynn to win the day.