August 25, 2013

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All told, 11 people braved the heat and the insane humidity to gather under Valley of Smoke's majestic green tent this week. The proud warriors gathered to slug it out in various combat situations, and learn a little while they were at it.

But it was also a week of sadness, as the group gathered to bid farewell to our loyal Lord Tungdil Blackforge. Last weekend, he was presented with his Lord title for serving as group monarch for the past year. He returned home to the Valley of Smoke to bid his dearest companions a fond farewell as he sets out on his adventure for college.

Lord Tungdil has been with Valley of Smoke from the very beginning. As the group started out with just a few foam weapons in the Parkersburg High School gymnasium, he was among the first to pick up his weapon. He was the first to create a shield, and used it to dominate his opponents at the time. As the park grew, and became part of the Amtgard kingdom of Crystal Groves, Lord Tungdil stayed with us throughout it all.

Our day started out by setting up our little camp and getting suited up for our first class battle. It was the standard mutual annihilation class game, with magic users and melee fighters alike taking the field for a 25 life pool game. After much sweating and a lot of fun, we retreated to our tent for a water break.

After serving as our sheriff for the past two terms, Lord Tungdil officially stepped down from his position in order to go off to college. But, before he did, Lord Tungdil handed out some well-earned awards in an impromptu awards ceremony. The awards were as follows:

Riken Eclipse - Second Order of the Smith

Lord Tungdil Blackforge - Second Order of the Warrior

Prada Forell - Second Order of the Rose

Henry Greatwing - Second Order of the Owl

Lord Tungdil's award was a surprise even to him. Henry Greatwing took the honor of handing that particular well-deserved award out.

Once we were finished with awards, we took to the field again to play a game that Henry Greatwing brought back with him from the Black Carnival event a few weekends ago. One large bouncy ball in the center of the field, one scoring goal on each side. The concept of the game was simple: take the ball to the other team's goal. Sounds a lot like soccer, but add swords and magic spells and chaos ensues.

The game consisted of a lot of running and a lot of tired players. After one team reached a score of three, we retreated to the shade tent again.

Riken hosted a class, telling everyone present about the Arts & Sciences competition that would be at the upcoming Feast of Dead 2013 Kingdom event. She explained not only what types of entries are welcome, but also how the judges will react and what they will be looking for in entries.

After the class, everyone took the field for a bear pit! All the players surrounded Lord Tungdil Blackforge, and one by one, attacked him in traditional style. When it was all over, everyone attacked him at once. Much laughter was had.

We then played a game of ring the bell, giving everyone another good workout. We caught this one on video, which Riken was kind enough to merge into a single video for us. 

After the end of the game, we finally gave in to the heat and packed it in.  Those who had been to college provided Lord Tungdil with all of the helpful advice that we could, and we sent him on his way to join Ruby Hills, and continue fighting the good fight.