Barony Of Vatavia, On to Mooneschadowe

On to Mooneschadowe

After a passionate plea from King Siridean at Valor to follow him to Mooneschadowe, two weeks later, twenty-seven Vatavians followed the now former king south to Ansteorra. The dream was to sweep the contests and to fulfill Count Siridean’s desire to maintain Calontir’s hold on Mooneschadowe. They came close.

Among the first contests to be decided were the heavy weapons combat, won by Sir Joe Angus, and archery. The archery was taken by an Ansteorrian by one point with Lief of Crescent Moon, Daniel of Arrownock and Vatavia’s Michael van Bergen following close behind. It took the King of Ansteorra’s call on the kingdom’s top archery order, with seven of the ten responding, to achieve that result. Later that day, Daniel took the thrown weapons competition.

In the meantime, Anlon Greywolf worked his way in the finals of the chess tourney. The final game was done as a live chess game with many Vatavians playing pieces on Greywolf’s team (Baroness Maeve as the queen, Thomas Bacon as a bishop, Cai Douglas as a knight). After numerous missed chances and one false checkmate, Greywolf finally emerged victorious. (Later at feast, the two opponents analyzed the game over a regular chessboard and replayed the game to a draw.)

During the afternoon there was a populace vote for the A & S competition. Among the entries was a woven belt that featured the Cross of Calatrava and dragonflies by Linnet. But the competition was by a heavily embroidered gown by an Ansteorrian.

The bards spent the afternoon performing, each doing three different pieces (song, poem, story, instrumental piece, or other). Among the Vatavians competing were Thomas Foxleye, Cerridwyn, and Mirel. They stopped only when they were told that feast was commencing, and if they wanted to eat they had to come in. Another Calontiran took the prize.

During feast, the Ansteorrian King was a gracious host, setting Count Siridean at his side. Toasts were raised to both Ansteorra and Calontir. Sir Stephen Grimfalcon presented a knife to Count Siridean as a token of respect for his upholding of the ideals of the Society.

Court followed feast, and the day’s winners got their recognition. The highlight of the court was the knighting of Sir Owen, a Welshman who has more names then Cerridwyn, which were repeated several times.

Though revelry started afterwards, by this point many Vatavians had already left. But not all. The next day was the fencing match, and two more Vatavians, Phillippe DuRouchard and Gaston Dalstein, shone. Though ultimately another Ansteorrian took the match.

While the dream that inspired so many Vatavians south did not come to fruition, the journey was not made in vain. For new friends were made and an old alliance renewed. While it has been many years since a formal InterKingdom event has occurred between Ansteorra and Calontir, this year’s Mooneschadowe Guardian did a fair job filing the gap.

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