Crown Tournament, Iles Du Dragon Dormant, 8th May 2010.

Being proactive pays most of the time. Since we wanted to leave early in the morning, we decided to pack the car the night before. The Armour and swords are in, the big suitcases and some of the smaller ones were also all in the car. All we need to do is get ready and pack a few more things and leave. We figured we would be on the road by 0600.
At 0530 I was about to put the last of the things in the car, when I notice the back window smashed in and stuff missing. Someone thought they would do us a favour by removing the three suitcases that were obstructing my rear view. After calling the police and going around the neighbourhood, dumpster diving, we returned, unsuccessfully to the house to see that the police found two of our cases. We were still missing Estela’s clothes. After talking to the police we went on another search party. This time we found the remaining luggage. After getting the window repaired we were finally on the road seven hours late and minus 230 dollars less in our pockets.
We arrived at the site Friday afternoon were we booked our hotel and had a good supper at the local Greek Restaurant.
The next morning we got to a very soggy site. I was ready to go. We met with Christiana, Spurius and several others from our fair Barony. There were only three of us from Ruantallan that took part in this tournament, Spurius, Manfred and me. After getting inspected we made ready to fight. Spurius and Manfred picked their opponents and I had to be the last to pick since my station put me in the middle of the pack.
My first opponent was a Sinister Baron, sorry I forget his name. I was able to attack quickly and after he lost his sword he basically gave me the bout due to the many landed shots. The next two bouts I lost, but they were non-the-less good fights.
Estela was at my side the whole afternoon. We were very wet from the rain at the end of the day.
I’m not sure how Manfred did this day, so I will not elaborate on his bouts.
Spurius did well on this day. He placed in the top 16 by winning two fights. His bouts took place at the same time as mine so I was only able to view his last fight. He was opposed to Sir Wulgar. He did well enough and defended very well, but after about three minutes it is Wulgar that, with experience and skill, had the better of this one. Well Done Spurius.
While we were outside fighting and watching, Selias was inside socializing and keeping dry. A very wise Lady this Selias.
After Court we all packed in the car and went back to the hotel for another evening on the RACK. The next morning we left to return home. The trip home was without incidents.
Pictures and videos can be seen here.. Happy viewing.

Ruantallan 12th Night, Seashire, 9th January 2010.

As per the norm would have it, most of the Golden Oak Inn was at 12th night this year. This time Isolda and Spurius entered in the Arts and Science competition. Isolda submitted a beautiful Roman Toga, and Spurius entered a pair of Roman Boots. They both received fair marks. It was however Lord Guthfrith who won the competition with his period lanterns.

Her Excellency Estela took some time out of the kitchen when she came out to take on another student. She wrapped Matilda with her blue sash.

During the day the children were involved in a quest to help the Baron and they had to find the wise woman to do so. First they had to see the apprentice who sent them to the foolish man, who in turn sent them to get a favour from the Honourable Lady, in order to confront the Warriors from afar. Yes Sir Gareth, Spurius and I were those Warriors. After a battle wit, we sent them to the Wise Lady who was the troll. The smalls were then given a candle to give to the Baron at court.

Brunlock was given the Laurels recognition for his work in the Arts and Sciences.

Dame Sarah was the lead in the kitchen and she was assisted by HL Cristiana and Baronne Estela. Others helped, but their names escapes me. The food was excellent and abundant. My comment to the kitchen staff after the feast was that this feast would have been a perfect fit for an intense fighting event, because it had it all to satisfy hungry fighters.

Most people that I talked to said they had a great time, as did I. Here as the pictures that Sileas took during 12th Night.

2009 in a compressed format.

Yes I have done it again. I let the website go far, far behind. For this I wish to apologize. Let see if I can do a recap of the events since the last post.

When we last saw our valiant and intrepid nut cases, it was the beginning of the warm weather, which means that it was the beginning of war camp season. Some of the Nut gang went to our Baronial war camp and took part in the fun at a new war camp site. I was not able to go since I was away due to other war commitments.

Spurius, Isolda and Emily loaded their chariot and traveled far to attend the Great North-Eastern War (GNE). This was their first time going to GNE, and from what I gathered from their stories they had a good time except maybe Isolda’s sleep depravation. Maybe we should have been more explicit when we described the party atmosphere that reigns at GNE.

August brought us a Royal Progress. Their Majesties Andreas and Gabriela came to our fair lands. They gave us the honour of staying at the Golden Oak Inn for this event. We were able to take them around and even had a lobster feast. The event was host to the first rattan tournament for the newly recognized Crown Principality. The Golden Oak Inn had three members entered in the tournament, and all three moved to the semi-finals. Spurius faced against Master Conrad from Ile du Dragon Dormant, while Nicolas faced off against me, William. Conrad and Nicolas were the victors and went on to fight the finals. Master Conrad is the first Crown Principality rattan Champion. If I’m not mistaken, I believe he was the first Northern Shores Champion when we were first form as a region.
Lady Sileas was called, but did not come forward as their Majesties went to her. She was still playing that bad leg thing. She was given a Queen's Honour of Distinction for the jewelry work and service she has done for their Majesties. Spurius also was called to received his Award of Arms.
At the same event Estela and I were called forward and we were both made Court Barons and I received a Grant of Arms. Yes this was a total surprise for the both of us. It was extremely heart warming to hear the cheers from the populace assembled when we were herald as Baron and Baronne.

In October Lady Cristiana went to The stepping down of Andreas and Gabriela and at their last court, She was given a Queen's Cypher and a Grant of Arms.Now she will be called an Honourable Lady Cristiana.

We Also held our Baronial Anniversary and held the Rattan Championship. As the reigning Champion I was the marshal in charge along with Sir Gareth. Spurius and Nicolas entered the tournament for the Golden Oak Inn and both went to the semi-finals. Spurius faced and defeated Lord Guthfrith to become the next Baronial Rattan Champion.

November rolled in and at the end we had Herne the Hunter, which turned out to be a Royal Progress with their Majesties Conrad and Branwen. Herne is well known to have lots of heavy fighting and lots of food. This was no exception. We had Quad Damage, Highlander tourney and Mixed-up weapon melee. Then food came by the buggy load, and it was good.
Here are pictures taken at Hern the Hunter, I'm sure they will show that we had fun.

2009 has not been a bad year when you consider all that our members have received. AoA, Queen’s Cypher X 2, Court Baron(ess) X2, Grant of Arms X 2 and a Baronial rattan Champion. Not a bad haul.

That would be it for the year 2009, other then the passing of my mother on the 8th of November. Isabelle was 73 and she was still a very cool chick. All those who have met her would agree. I will miss her.

I know I have said this before, but I will do my best to keep this up to date.

Ruantallan First Spring Muster, Seashire, 28th March 2009.

Spring is here and the smell of war is rising, or is it Eau de Fighter. Ruantallan had to muster its forces to make ready for the upcoming battles. We had a gathering of cooks, dancers, fencer and heavy fighters.

This being a pot-luck event all the folks brought in food for the lunch and supper feasts. Before lunch there was a fencing tournament, organized by Lord Guthfrith. After Lunch it was time for the light of foot and Heavy armoured to go to work. There was dancing with Lady Brianna inside and Rattan outdoors with Lord William as the fall back Marshal due to a banged-up elbow.

Supper was a selection of many dishes, which include several dishes that participated in a Food A&S competition. It was all good, I had to go for seconds. After Supper it was time for more dancing.

We had a good time. It seems that the grand majority of the folks in attendance did too.

Another Baronial Election Completed.

The ballots have been sent, counted and the results are in. We are happy to say that the new Baron and Baroness of Ruantallan will be Donal and Allesandra. They will be invested at the end of August. We would like to thank those who supported us in this election.
We will continue to support the Coronet as Rattan Champion and Heads of this Household.

Ruantallan 12th Night, Seashire, 10th January 2009.

Many members of the Golden Oak Inn went to this event. We made our way to the event hall, we set our table near a wall, with our banner behind it. On the table we had fruit, juice, cookies and other treats. We set it up near a wall so that other folks could come and join us and feel welcomed. I mostly walked around the hall and chatted with people. At one point I got up to dance the Gay Gordon, that is always fun. Estela was dressed in a much earlier time period then usual and many people did not recognise her at first. Most of us got up and played a game of Life-size Mancala. It was a battle of wits between our out going Baroness Janet and the Vicar Dame Sarah. Dame Sarah had advisors and Her Excellency only had the advice of her human tokens. Never the less it was Baroness Janet who took the most human tokens to win the game.

At Ruantallan 12th Night, we have two competitions. One of them was the Bardic challenge, which was a year long competition. This years winner was Mistress Elise, mostly due to the many war stories that she shared with us throughout the year.

The other Competition was to determine the next Ruantallan A&S champion. We had two members who entered this year. M’lord Spurius entered his newly fabricated Roman sandals. They were on his feet all day. Lady Sileas also entered. She entered the scroll she prepared for the N.S. A&S competition and a lovely jewellery pin. Lady Isa won the day, with her carved wooden box that holds Elise's copy of the Lutrel Psalter.

After a great day of chatting, dancing, playing games it was time for court. The Vicar, Dame Sarah entered with the usual Baronial Entourage and conducted a quick and pleasant court. During court the Peers of the Barony presented token to those who showed enthusiasm, aptitude and just basically inspired them in the past year. Sir Yessunge presented the chivalry token, a link of the chain of fealty to m’lord Spurius. I must say that I am inspired by Spurius enthusiasm for this game.

Feast was a WOW experience. Lady Juliana prepared a feast that was fit for Kings. After stuffing our bellies we made it go down by putting chair and tables away. We made our way home happy after another good event.

To see some pictures of 12th Night that Sileas took. Just click on the link.

Herne the Hunter, Seashire, 20th December 2008

This was another fun event. It was held at the same hall as the N.S. A&S event. The fighting was upstairs, while the schmoozing was downstairs. Sir Gareth was held up in An-Tir so I was asked to organise the fighting. I made them sweat. We ran two round robin and then the Quad Damage and the some barrier fighting. After the two round robin I counted up the points and it was Lord Guthfrith who won by only one point.

Meanwhile on the other floor, it was all about the young ones. The parental units kept an eye out for their young folks and they, in turn had a blast playing games and with toys with each other.

Then it was Feast. Meat, Meat with a side order of Meat. Of course there were veggies but Herne is a Meat Feast. It was most excellent. I always enjoy going to this end of year event. Sorry We do not have any pictures for this event.

Northern Shores Arts and Science Competition, Seashire, Ruantallan, 29th November 2008

The wagon was packed and ready to go to another great event. All we needed were the folks to pack in them, First came Lugg, then Stephane and Evangeline, and then came Keegen and Laura. The gang is here. Cristiana left early since she had stuff to bring to the site. Lugg, Estela, Sileas and I in one wagon. Stephane, Evangeline, Keegan and Laura were in the other. We made our way to the site, with a few U-turn and some choice incantations. Lady Asa joined us at the site later in the day. It was nice to see her again. The rest of the NUTS could nut make it. we missed them all.

The hall was a Gem. Fighting occurred upstairs and the main attraction for the event, the A&S display, was downstairs. Stephane and I had a blast. We fought in a “fun tourney” organized by Sir Yessunge.
The video of the bouts can be viewed here

As I was saying the main purpose of this event was to host the A&S Championship for the Region. I did not get to see many of the entries, but those I saw were amazing. It was the entries of Lord Guthfrith Yrlingson who accumulated the most points from the judges. He is now the Northern Shores A&S Champion. Well done!
Many pictures taken by Sileas are available here

Ruantallan Baronial Investiture, Seashire, 4th October 2008

We packed the wagon and joined up with friends for the journey to the 20th anniversary of the founding of our Barony. Once on site we set up got changed in real clothe and then relaxed. Chat with folks and played cricket with the young ones.
About 30 min prior to the stat of the tournament the crowd start to gather and I was attempting to get in the zone. I had my own bard team playing in my ears. I guess my musical team played the right songs and I got in my zone quickly.
There was another Golden Oak Inn member that took part in this tournament, Lord Nicolas was also a challenger for the Baronial Rattan Champion title. He fought very well and in virtue to his prowess in the list accessed to the semi finals.
After the Round Robin the four finalists were Lord Sawney, Lord Guthfrith, Lord Nicolas and myself, William. I was opposed the Sawney and Guthfrith was against Nicolas.
The two winners of the best of three semies were Guthfrith and me. After a 10 min break we met in the list with Great sword and then Sword and Shield. I won both. I am the new Rattan Champion.
Court followed were we saw many awards presented to deserving members and also saw many new people attending their first event. The Golden Oak was responsible in bringing in about 12 new folks.
For Feast, Estela and I were seated at the head table, with the present coronets and their predecessor, and their predecessor. Yes we had had the three set of coronets in our midst for this millstone anniversary. The Food was plentiful and excellent. Speaking only for myself I was stuffed and I had a happy belly.
Now the only thing I have to do to complete this event is to recover the regalia from our previous Champion, Sir Gareth. Yes the regalia were forgotten at home.

More Pictures of the event can be viewed Here

EK Crown Tournament, Lyndhaven, April 2008

After a short four and a half hour drive we arrived at the hotel, where we met Duke Andreas and made dinner arrangements. We went to a small Pub were we had drinks and food in the company of Sir Andreas, Sir Willem, Baroness Vienna and their Royal Majesties.
On completion of dinner we preceded to the Pre-Rev, where we met with several Friends of House Blackwood, Kernough and the Shire of Lyndhaven. It was good to have a few drinks and more food with our friends.
Saturday after breakfast, we got ready for Crown and made our way to the site. Once there we found out that we were not on the Participants list. This was rectified rapidly by THL Alethea. Yes this is the same Alethea who later became our Princess when Duke Darius won the finals against Duke Andreas.
The feast was created by Lady Griet, despite not having any stoves in her kitchen. She and the Autocrat arranged to use the stoves in another building to produce an outstanding supper.

Pictures of the event can be viewed Here

EKU, Ruantallan, March 2008

Ok so I lied. I said that I was going to update this page more often and here we are with more the nine months between updates. SORRY.

The first significant event for the Golden Oak Inn that marked the 2008 year was EKU in March. At this grand event we had the opportunity to host Their Royal Majesties Andreas and Gabriella. The Barony had two vigils on that day. Lady Elise became Mistress Elise a Peer in the Order of the Pelican, and Lord Gilbert became Master Gilbert a Peer in the Order of the Laurel.

She Has Been Gotten
A few months prior to this event a select few received word the effect that Lady Estela would get a special award. We had a great time keeping it a secret, because she is good at figuring out stuff. So we made up a story that another person was getting a different award. Estela got busy with projects related to this bogus award. She worked on a QOC glove. She had Sileas to create a scroll for this fictitious honour. Sileas completed the illumination on the scroll and Estela loved the work, exclaiming the recipient will be very happy. At this point when Sileas works on the Calligraphy aspect of any scroll, she always locks us out of her workshop. Sileas came down to the Shoe, with a dejected look on her face. She told us that she spilled a bottle of ink on the scroll. The beautiful scroll was destroyed.

On the day of the event Estela was busy in the kitchen, preparing a great feast. So during court she was called out of the Kitchen to come before Their Majesties. At this time King Andreas went on about the great deeds that Lady Estela has done. How she created “Works of Art” clothing many people, including many Kings, Queens, Prince and Princesses. At this point a scroll was read out loud. The Scroll declared the Andreas and Gabriella King and Queen of the East bestowed upon her a Grant of Arms. Now Estela is known to all as Honourable Lady Estela du Frayse.
See Estela's acount of the event in Estela's Live Journal