Ravine of Doom
We left the open field and went ot the ravine, only it wasnt a ravine. More like a dry creek bed.
Looking about I saw exposed tree roots and lot of stubs everywhere. I kicked teh ground and was rewarded by the sight of sand...yay. SO there were trees and obstructions everywhere and the ground was loose sand with some moss on it that held it together long enough for you to think you had solid footing then gave way when you were trying to fight. Now I grew up in a Florida swamp so I thought I would have no problem and I was right in that but a lot of the guys didnt have that experience so I put out newest fighters (one of which authed that morning)in the center and took the right flank with Kane. After the marshals did their thing "This tape marks the edge and you cant fight from this lovely flat area here...etc etc" lay on was called. Ansterroea took that lovely flat ground and held it...thought we could not fight there Mr Marshal? Oh well, footing was worse than I though and I was on the edge of the drop off. Kane and I were the main spears on that flank and we took turns walking back and forth to res. Seemes they could not kill us both at the same time thankfully. There was some lovely spear dueling there though and as time went on fewer squires walked up there on their side, soon it was knights only we were facing. Including once again their King. They had a few more archers than we did but they were rather ineffective against me. Seems they are not used to a spear fighter who ducks, bobs and weaves as he thrusts. Movement is a key part of my defense after all. Much fun was had till the dreaded hold and shouts for medical folks was heard. Kane asked who it was as I was counting heads. Found our newbie, spotted all the normal guys and thought it was cool. Then I saw the wounded mans armour. He WAS one of ours, a guy who had just returned to the SCA after a 10 year hiatus, and was once squired to Starhelm. Not one of our regulars but he was down and had taken a spear to the throat in one of those freak accidents. Dex and I cleared people back to allow the medics room and watched fairly helplessly as they strapped him to a backboard and carried him out. Kane and Randal ended up leaving to check on him and never returned but I had been told basically "Stay, fight, kill, good squire" so I did.
Now I was the lone effective spear on that flank till a couple of GA knights showed up and I honestly think I was still getting more kills than the others. AT one point I was using Cambric Greenshield as a cover and was happily throwing left-handed shots when the ground gave way and I slid down the hill into the center. Got 2 on the way down and 3 more when I leveled off before returning to my original position. Long story short was that I made it through the entire battle with only a couple of water breaks and afterwards that guy in blue (their King) asked me if I had fought the entire battle, when I said yes he just grinned and said something like he wished his squires had that kind of stamina. I was wiped out though, fighting two handed in sand will do a number on your reserves and I wanted to find Kane to check on the wounded guy. I told the others they fight or not in the bridges and left them for camp. Found Randal up there out of armour and was told Kane was at the hospital with out casualty. He was getting a CT scan to check for damage but other than that should be fine. Left there with my armour on to get some coffee and do a little shopping, fully intending to go back and fight the castle. That didnt happen though as they fought the bridges and as usual everything just took so much longer than it should have, by the time they were ready I had gotten cold and just wanted a shower. SO I washed off the fighter stuff and had some late lunch. Kane returned and confirmed that Brand-Du (the guys name) was fine......next in our story. The Hafla....
Looking about I saw exposed tree roots and lot of stubs everywhere. I kicked teh ground and was rewarded by the sight of sand...yay. SO there were trees and obstructions everywhere and the ground was loose sand with some moss on it that held it together long enough for you to think you had solid footing then gave way when you were trying to fight. Now I grew up in a Florida swamp so I thought I would have no problem and I was right in that but a lot of the guys didnt have that experience so I put out newest fighters (one of which authed that morning)in the center and took the right flank with Kane. After the marshals did their thing "This tape marks the edge and you cant fight from this lovely flat area here...etc etc" lay on was called. Ansterroea took that lovely flat ground and held it...thought we could not fight there Mr Marshal? Oh well, footing was worse than I though and I was on the edge of the drop off. Kane and I were the main spears on that flank and we took turns walking back and forth to res. Seemes they could not kill us both at the same time thankfully. There was some lovely spear dueling there though and as time went on fewer squires walked up there on their side, soon it was knights only we were facing. Including once again their King. They had a few more archers than we did but they were rather ineffective against me. Seems they are not used to a spear fighter who ducks, bobs and weaves as he thrusts. Movement is a key part of my defense after all. Much fun was had till the dreaded hold and shouts for medical folks was heard. Kane asked who it was as I was counting heads. Found our newbie, spotted all the normal guys and thought it was cool. Then I saw the wounded mans armour. He WAS one of ours, a guy who had just returned to the SCA after a 10 year hiatus, and was once squired to Starhelm. Not one of our regulars but he was down and had taken a spear to the throat in one of those freak accidents. Dex and I cleared people back to allow the medics room and watched fairly helplessly as they strapped him to a backboard and carried him out. Kane and Randal ended up leaving to check on him and never returned but I had been told basically "Stay, fight, kill, good squire" so I did.
Now I was the lone effective spear on that flank till a couple of GA knights showed up and I honestly think I was still getting more kills than the others. AT one point I was using Cambric Greenshield as a cover and was happily throwing left-handed shots when the ground gave way and I slid down the hill into the center. Got 2 on the way down and 3 more when I leveled off before returning to my original position. Long story short was that I made it through the entire battle with only a couple of water breaks and afterwards that guy in blue (their King) asked me if I had fought the entire battle, when I said yes he just grinned and said something like he wished his squires had that kind of stamina. I was wiped out though, fighting two handed in sand will do a number on your reserves and I wanted to find Kane to check on the wounded guy. I told the others they fight or not in the bridges and left them for camp. Found Randal up there out of armour and was told Kane was at the hospital with out casualty. He was getting a CT scan to check for damage but other than that should be fine. Left there with my armour on to get some coffee and do a little shopping, fully intending to go back and fight the castle. That didnt happen though as they fought the bridges and as usual everything just took so much longer than it should have, by the time they were ready I had gotten cold and just wanted a shower. SO I washed off the fighter stuff and had some late lunch. Kane returned and confirmed that Brand-Du (the guys name) was fine......next in our story. The Hafla....