Feel free to brag! This is for you to feel good about your dueling prowess.
I will share with you four of my favorite nights to look back upon.
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STORY 1
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My first was the first Warlord tournament I entered with the character Sir Damien Cetran of Longsly. I was still fairly new to dueling and I think I barely made Warlord in time to make the tournament.
I won my first match 5-2, my second 5-3, my third 5-4 and then faced Kalamere in the finals. He beat me 5-3. I went over to the loser's bracket and then won three more matches, all 5-4. I remember that it was nerve racking and I was vibrating from all these close matches.
I faced off against Kalamere again and this time beat him 5-3. They anounced me the winner, even though Kalamere only lost once, which was confusing. I took the 4th ring as my prize and he took the Overlord challenge, which is what he wanted, so it worked out. This all took place over two nights and I remember I couldn't wait from one day to the next.
Not facing Kalamere for a double elimination final match caused some controversy and some immediate challenges. Billy Ray challenged Damien then withdrew, I think, after Kalamere declared that he did not protest Damien being crowned champion as he got the prize he wanted.
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STORY 2
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My best quality dueling was with the character Agrenish Preescott, a brash and arrogant guy. My first match was a perfect 5-0 in 5, my second was 5-0 in 6, my third was something 5-3 in 13 and my final match was against the always disagreeable RLupton. I had him up 4-0 in 4 and was salivating for my second perfect match in the night when he decided to quit. I gave him some hell about that one.
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STORY 3
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My favorite roleplaying dueling, well, there are two. I'll save the second for another thread.
As Agrenish Preescott again... I challenged and beat Var for the 10th ring. He re challenged and our characters didn't like each other much. I set up something special for him as I had defended the ring once before. I got together with one of the callers from the DoF and had a balance beam suspended in air for us to duel upon, which made role playing the challenge out a hell of a lot of fun. I ended up losing (and the subsequent rubber match), but it was a match with no losers.
I remember having a number of people telling me that it was one of the most entertaining fights they every watched. Which is cool when you consider that they're watching words.
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STORY 4
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All of that was great, but its hard to beat the night I won the crown. I had actually once challenged Dalamar under the wrong pretenses, mistaking something OOC for IC and withdrew. By the time I offered another challenge, again with Agrenish, Unagi Miyamoto was Overlord.
It was a good place to challenge as Miyamoto was the guy who challenged and lost to Agrenish when he was a Baron. Miyamoto made him do the Test of Worthiness and, knowing Agrenish's brash behavior, this was no surprise. What was a big surprise was who came to his aid. I knew Magnus Eques would step in, during Dalamar's epic reign, he stepped in every chance he got. He also lost, a lot, as I recall.
The guy who stepped in was Verceterix Favre, and I can't tell you how shocked I was that he did this. It's not like Rix and Agrenish were friends. He told me that the reason he (the character) was doing this was he was recalled a bad run of losses and was thinking about quitting.
Agrenish, being himself, lambasted him for even thinking about quitting just because he had gotten beat a few times and that helped give him the motivation not only to continue dueling but to excel as well. Again, shocked! I had forgotten this conversation ever happened! I speculate that there was some OOC in this decision, like the guy who played him was thinking about quitting because he wasn't doing too well (he may of been a GM at this point or struggling to maintain Warlord, I forget) but I never asked. When I did recall the conversation, I remember that I, the player, did not want Rix to quit because he was a good duelist and a good character and I think I played my feelings through my character.
That's what I remember. I'd love to hear from him about this, if he remembers.
Anyways, the tester was someone named Banda, who I've never seen before or after. Apperently she was chosen specifically to face Magnus as they were ready for him to intercept the test, as I was. With Rix coming out of left field, it was a move the surprised all three of us.
The duel between Rix and Banda went forever. I was so nervous, I felt like I did during the Warlord's tournament. After seventeen frickin' rounds and a score like 9-8, Rix won the match and cleared the path for Agrenish.
Now, the fight between Miyamoto and Agrenish was nothing like the challenge fight. I had studied this guy through and through. 5-1 in 7, a new overlord and a ton and I mean a ton of pissed off Warlords and Barons ready to challenge the guy who had beaten and insulted them on so many occasions.
But with one more trick up his sleeve (this was planed before the challenge was issued), three days later, just long enough for everyone to get stewed up... well, the histories said it best:
"Three days later, in a letter rife with disinterest and outright contempt, Agrenish Preescott became the third Overlord ever to retire, with the shortest reign of any Overlord. He retired from the Duel of Swords at the same time. Still, though his departure was not highly lamented by the masses, it is doubtful we have heard the last of this particular antagonistic man."
I want to cook the person who wrote that a delicious meal. Beautifully written and had me laughing and laughing when I first read it. Reading the forums during this stretch and the following days was such a joy.
I doubt that I'll ever bring Agrenish back as he's not someone I think who would ever return somewhere after he's made his made his mark and moved on, but as you can see from this list, he's the character I had most of not only my best matches, but my most memorable role playing moments as well.
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Those are my stories, tell us about yours! What do you think back fondly upon? What are some of your greatest moments? When did you kick ass like no one else? When did you feel like a Highlander and everything was going perfectly?
Twelve years later, I don't remember important move combinations and my dueling notebook is long gone, but I'm sure a lot of you remember cool little things that helped you figure out your opponent so you could own 'em like that table-scrap-pilfering-grabass's they are! Did you know the were going to Thrust after a side-step? Have you hit multiple Fancy Slash's on an opponent? Win with a disengage?
And I want to read about all of them.
