From the Front Lines: Banner War

This weekend was Banner War; I've never felt so conflicted about an event.

Well, we'll get there. Banner War is a mostly intramural competition between the various households of Aquaterra (and whatever allies and mercenaries they can assemble) in a wide variety of competitions, ranging from the inevitable heavy fighting to dance.

The site is large geographically, but most of it is covered in trees, and the large open areas are needed for things like archery and erics, so tents get shoehorned into whatever space is left - which in my case meant being camped on top of a bunch of rocks. On the plus side, I was close to everything, including being fairly close to the permanent bathrooms.

Saturday I went to court, where the households declared their intent and I agreed to 'fight' for house Medelstede. House Redstone and the Red Plauge were also up, Redstone launching an all-out offensive to claim the title in honor of a fallen member of their household to end their year of mourning him. Next for me was rapier. I thought I did very well - fought cleanly and got complimented, for Azel's sake! I managed to pin down some fighters much better than I in melee, and for once got almost as many kills as deaths. Medelstede came away from rapier with two of the three available war points.

After rest and lunch (trying out my new Esbit stove) came Dance. I learned to brawl. I'm sure that's not how its spelled, but that is how it is pronounced, and I can't pass that up, now can I? Sadly Redstone came in force, and outnumbered five to one Medelstede was defeated for the dance war point.

Another court (with rice crispy treats!), dinner over the Esbit again, and hanging out with various folks followed. I got another mental conflict here - found out something about someone, or rather probably about someone - this is really bad writing, but the point is it was something that I didn't suspect at all, and which rather bothers me.

In the evening was a three-point bardic competition. I made it about halfway through pass the rhyme (first round free-form, second round partially in context, third round fully in context, and after I was eliminated a coherent story was required). Next came "performance under pressure" - do your piece while being beat on with pool noodles, or standing on one foot (mine). I got through mine, got a good vibe from the crowd, but fell victim to sequence again - I was the first to complete their performance under pressure, and by the time the crowd was polled for judging they'd forgotten me. I'm not saying I should have one, but given the comparative audience reactions during and immediatly after our performances, I should have polled much higher. The third and final contest was "crack the noble"; we had to make the Baron laugh in under a minute. Most people were unable to do this, but three of us pulled it off. I cracked him in twenty seconds, using only one word (jelly). :-) The Baron was then asked which of the successful crackers had entertained him the most, and wisely chose the guy who had explained his new heraldic device (featuring a flamingo, and asking for advice on whether it should be rampant, counterchanged, etc.), even though he did take 35 seconds. While I give myself credit for art and speed, I must say that if I'd been polled on entertainment value, I would have voted for him too.

After some more socializing and a little more open-form bardic, I returned to discover that while the rain fly on my tent may be waterproof, the doors apparently are not. Being set down on an irregular surface worked for me - very little gear got wet, all things considered. I had left the remaining tent stakes in my car, parked quite a ways away, so I got the rain fly partially reset over the door, but still took on more water during the night. Hopefully this was due to the defective setup, not a defective tent.

Sunday was all about packing up gear in the rain, trying to dry things once home, and feeling somewhat sick. This morning I'm feeling somewhat worse - perhaps something I ate?

Overall it was an event that should have been very good for me, but leaves a poor aftertaste.