On the evening of Sunday, September 18, 2005, fifteen duelists--one grandmaster, three master-at-arms, two swordsmen and nine commoners--met in the rings of the Arena to battle it out for the Talon of Redwin. With almost twice as many participants as the last tournament, and with duels reaching as many as seventeen rounds, the night's champion needed to exhibit not just skill, but endurance. After the fourth and final round was in the books, a new, or perhaps not-so-new, Talon was recognized.
The first round would prove one of the most grueling as a majority of the round counts reached double digits. In the shortest duels, Rhiannon edged out Logan and last-minute entrant Lothar eliminated Vincent in a pair of nine-rounders. Rabmallet and Sylus were the next to move on, earning convincing victories over Illusia and Dude, respectively. Hojyn, who had a fair showing in the last tournament, would prove he was out for a better showing as he shook off newcomer Shard. The two remaining duels raced to see which could last the longest; after fifteen rounds Psylder's 5.5-2.5 defeat of another newcomer, Adamar, would fall one round short of that race: In the sixteenth round of their duel, a victor was finally determined between Random and Ria, as Random won 8-6.5.
Vanion had received the only bye of the night during the first round, but it would prove to be more of a curse than a blessing. Down to Hojyn 4.5-2 after eight rounds, he vanished unexpectedly, forcing a forfeit in Hojyn's favor. That was the longest duel of the second round, which showed a complete change in pace of the first: In a five-round offensive onslaught, Sylus showed Rabmallet he was eager to reclaim the Talon, picking up a 5-2 victory. Pslyder also proved that he was far from finished, earning a seven-round shutout over Lothar. Rhiannon kept up the round's fury as she upended Random from the competition, 5-3.
As the ruling question with the Talon of Redwin is "Will another woman win?", spotlight is always on the female duelists. After the first round, Rhiannon was the last hope; she survived the second round, but in the semifinals, Pslyder secured that there would be a male victor this time by defeating Rhiannon 5-3 in six rounds. He would receive quite the breather too, as Sylus and Hojyn's duel ran a seventeen-round gamut, the longest of the night. Sylus kept up his quest to repeat, winning 6.5-5.
The final duel between Pslyder and Sylus was a strongly defensive affair, with Sylus meticulously building a 2.5-point lead over six rounds that Pslyder would never overcome. Pslyder chipped away at that lead through the eleventh round, bringing himself within 1.5 points, 3.5-2, but with a timely sidestep followed by an exchange of cuts, the night and Talon was Sylus' once more.
Congradulations to Sylus, the first duelist to win the Talon of Redwin twice! And great dueling by runner-up Pslyder and everyone who participated!
Witnessed by,
Rory Laurent
Deluthan Ev'rt
Round 1: Hojyn defeats Shard, 5.5-3 in 11 rounds Rhiannon Harker defeats Logan BlackBane, 5.5-3.5 in 9 rounds. LotharBlacklance defeats Vincent Smith, 5-2.5 in 9 rounds Rabmallet defeats Illusia, 5-2 in 10 rounds Sylus defeats Dude, 5-2.5 in 10 rounds Pslyder defeats Adamar Del Luis, 5.5-2.5 in 15 Random McChanse defeats Ria Graziano, 8-6.5 in 16 rounds Bye: Vanion Round 2: Pslyder defeats LotharBlacklance, 5-0 in 7 rounds. Rhiannon defeats Random McChanse, 5-3 in 7 rounds. Sylus defeats Rabmallet, 5-2 in 5 rounds. Hojyn defeats Vanion , 4.5-2 in 8 rounds (forfeit) Round 3: Pslyder defeats Rhiannon, 5-3 in 6 rounds Sylus defeats Hojyn, 6.5-5 in 17 rounds Finals duel: ((Sylus vs. Pslyder 1. cp/lc 0.5-0 2. ss/ss 0.5-0 3. lp/cp 0.5-0 4. ss/th 1-0 5. hc/dis 2-0 6. ss/cp 2.5-0 7. cp/hc 2.5-1 8. th/sl 3.5-1 9. hc/hc 3.5-1 10. lc/cp 3.5-1.5 11. lp/ss 3.5-2 12. ss/th 4-2 13. hc/lc 5-3)) Sylus defeats Pslyder, 5-3 in 13 rounds!