Good Evening Sportsfans

[toledo]

Good Evening Sports fans. Well here we are, guests have taken in the wedding of Maria Akatosh to Callum Dubec, but now House Akatosh welcome the New Year with a grand tournament at the Kapitol estate on Basque, Taura.

8 Entrants have registered their intent to fight, which implies 3 rounds of glorious martial combat, so lets take a little rundown on contestants...

Home favourite will be Vader Akatosh. Known to be valorous, and with the home crowds cheering him on Vader will be looking to put his Melee skills to good use seizing this tournament. Vader is not the only entrant known for his valour, but his melee skill – albeit at Neophyte level – gives him a slight edge in the first and – if he gets that far – the third round of combat.

Daveney Rath, representing the Andyluca region of Taura, and infamous for his black temper is joint second favourite for the tournament. Can Daveney invoke the inner fire to win the tournament?

Also representing Andylucya - and joint second favourite, plues also the only female - is Emissary Elisa-Carolina Toledo. An Apothecary apprentice, there have been rumours that there will be a weapon checks pre-Tourny…

Abel Dubeck – the only off world contestant and representing Xerxes, Orion - will be hoping that his apprenticeship in Ettiquette will give him the crucial advantage in the Lances round. Abel goes into the tourney as fourth favourite.

Also hoping that skill on horseback will see him through is Sebastian Toledo, but as just a Neophyte Sebastian is fifth favourite and like Abel, will need some fortune before being able to take part in his favoured martial form.

Paul Ryngold and the honourable Thorworld Dinjinn (both representing Basque Houses) carry long odds for the competition – and will perhaps hope to talk their opponents into mistakes. Thorworld will hope to add some practical skill to the Melee theory he has undertaken.

…but for those who like the big gamble, McDonald Rath – known for his forgiving manner – is the 8th competitor. McDonalds best hope is that he does not face any of the three tournament favourites.

With no melee or ettiquette experts in the field, we think this tournament will be between the natural talent of Vader, Daveney and Elisa-Carolina. Vaders technical edge in rounds 1 and 3 should just give him the edge.

...but congratulations to all the entrants for upholding the traditions of Empire. May you fight clean and fair!

[toledo]

Round 1
Abel Dubeck came unstuck as he faced up to join second favourite Elisa-Carolina Toledo. If this would have been lances the competition would have been evenly matched, but as it was Elisa's athleticism shone through.

Up next, the second Toledo entrant faced up to home favourite Vader Akatosh. Like the first round this would have been a closer affair if lances, but Vaders melee discipline in addition to raw talent saw him through, wounding Sebastian in the process.

The third fight of the day saw the two other Basque houses square off against each other as Paul Ryngold faced Thorworld Dinjinn in a even match up, but Ryngold showed more composure on the day.

The final fight of the first round saw the two Rath entrants square up to each other. Joint second favourite Daveney quickly dispatching McDonald to complete the entrants to the second round.

Round 2
Elisa-Carolina had the opportunity to avenge Sebastian Toledo as she was matched up against home favourite Vader Akatosh. This round though would be lances, so Vaders Melee training would not come into this round. Roared on by the locals (with only a few signs saying "Cheer now"), Vader caught Elisa with a glancing blow that unhorsed her to take the round.

In the second fight, Daveney Rath was heavily backed when drawn to face Paul Ryngold. Daveney was clearly the more comfortable on horseback, but as the two contestants closed, a gleam of light was seen to flash across his visor.

At that moment, Paul slammed his lance into the side of Daveney unhorsing him to rapturous applause. One man with a very shiney shield was believed to have been particularly pleased with the outcome as he cracked open a bottle of vintage Virgil 25
Daveney's foul mood was clear for all to see, particularly in the face of Paul who showed

Round 3
Daveney had little respite however as he was then entered into the 3rd/4th place play off where lances were again chosen as he took on Elisa-Carolina. In a close contest with several passes, perhaps his black mood and the brief rest he'd had was responsible for a slight error that Elisa took advantage of.

So it was that Vader Akatosh looked to uphold the host Houses honour as he met Paul Ryngold in the final melee of the day.

Whilst most of the crowd were vocal in their support of Vader, many voices lent themselves to the great outsider. Sadly for them though, Vaders athleticism and basic swordskill training was evident from the start as he pushed Paul back and dispatched him in short order. Some Females were seen to faint as Paul took a wound, though he won more admirers as he was quick to praise Vaders swordplay and quipped that it would perhaps be a different matter on the shooting range. Many were releaved to hear that he quickly recovered from his wound.

Vader Akatosh was hailed by all present as a worthy winner of this tournament.

[ryngold]

Amazing write up and good call on Vader winning.

[dubeck]

It is with great sadness that I must announce that Abel Dubeck succomed to the wounds he sustained in this tournament and passed away earlier today.

[toledo]

Baron, house Toledo and Elisa in particular would like to express sympathies. We are also in mourning for Sebastian who also succumbed to his wounds.