Rings of Honor

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For placing high in the Third Quarter Warlord's Tournament of '01, Seamus Mac Donnaugh earned the right to an intercession free challenge against Cletus Ganderfald. Seamus wasted no time in issuing the challenge and after a week delay from the initial scheduled time of the match, the two met in a best-of-three match.

Cletus was the stronger of the two in the opening, taking the first match 5-2 in eight rounds over Seamus. After that however, Seamus opened a bottle of old scotch, and seemingly a can of 'whoop ass'. Seamus was strong through the second match, taking it by the same score, and in the same amount of rounds as Cletus took the first. Though he faltered in the beginning of the third duel and fell behind 3-2, Seamus held strong to pull out the 5-4 victory in ten rounds. In doing so, Seamus was crowned the 45th Overlord of the Duel of Swords.

Almost immediately, Seamus received his first challenge from Baron of the Eighth, Xeric Mues. The popular opinion amongst Seamus' supporters was to have the brash young Baron tested, and that's exactly what Seamus opted to do. The Overlord chose to use recently returned duelist, Cassius Gaius Maximius. When it was announced that Cassius would be testing the Baron, Xeric asked Warlord Lorance Sneggle to champion his cause. He agreed and the two were about to step into the ring, when Renegade Baron of the Fourth, G'nort Talanador exercised his right as a Renegade Baron to step in on the challenger's behalf. Many were confused by this, but G'nort explained that it was for drama, selfishness, and the 'attempt to add one decent person to the challenging side' that made him step in for Xeric.

Thus, G'nort and Cassius fought. The match was a close one through out, going into overtime near the end. However, it was Cassius who came through with the 6-5 victory in seven rounds. Next up for Cassius was the challenging Baron, Xeric. Cassius opened strong, and kept it up all the way through to win it 5-2 in seven rounds. Cassius went on to challenge and defeat Xeric for the Eighth, but as far as the challenge for the crown went, Cassius preserved Seamus' holding of it for the time being.

Hours after the standings were posted that officially ended the previous challenge, Seamus was challenged again. This time by a man familiar with challenging for the crown, Baron Drey Starke. Also familiar to Drey was being tested, and this time it was no different. Seamus chose the half Orc, Jake Thrash to administer a test of worthiness to Drey. Drey responded by appointing Jesse Troyan to complete the test on his behalf. Jesse once more backed up his strong words by disposing of the half Orc, 5-2 in only six rounds. The original challenge was cleared, and after a brief pause as Seamus looked over some papers, he and Drey met.

The second match of the evening was not nearly as quick or dominating as the first one had been. For eleven rounds Drey had the lead, managing to stay one point ahead of Seamus, though the duelists often thought alike and blocked each other from scoring. After that however, it was all Seamus. He managed to stop Drey's momentum, close the gap, and then inch ahead. The duel stretched into overtime before Seamus sent Drey back home with a 5.5-3 loss in sixteen rounds.

Within a few days after the completion of Drey's challenge, Seamus was challenged again. Baron of the Eleventh, Verceterix Gavin Favre took issue with how he believed Seamus had acted during his past two challenges, and Seamus' tactics used to gain and control the crown. When the night of the challenge came, once more Seamus opted to use the Test of Worthiness. This time he chose Warlord Avery Shiv Blade to perform the Test. Baron Magnus offered to intercede on Rix's behalf, but when Rix made it known that he would like Warlord Sartan to enter the ring, Magnus promptly stepped down. Sartan and Avery met in a short, yet very close match. Avery took the lead only once during the match, but that lead came in the seventh and final round. By a score of 5-4, Rix was forced to face Seamus' Test.

The second match of the evening was not nearly as short, but just as close and exciting. Avery took the early lead, but Rix was quick to catch up and take a lead of his own. But in the fourteenth round, Avery took the lead. Two rounds later, he sealed the match by avoiding Rix's attack to take the 7-6 victory.

Seamus' reign would end nearly a month later in close to the same manner as it began. As the winner of the final Warlord Tournament of '01, Ralez Raistlin fought hard through a small group of his peers to claim the intercession free challenge against the Overlord. With mutual respect of the other's skill, the two duelers met in the ring. In an extremely fast nine round match, Ralez was able to defeat Seamus by a score of 5-2. Days later, Seamus announced that he would be taking a break from dueling for a short time.