MOD PLOT: NOT ALONE DO WE STAND, PART 1

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone who wants to attend
WHAT: THE GRAND TOURNEY
WHEN: Bloomingtide 20-27
WHERE: Wycome
NOTES: We'll be rolling one or two events per day, in the order listed, and posting the results here! That's also where you can find your diplomacy or espionage assignments and their results. There will be a second log post in about five days regarding the end of the tournament, to give people a place to RP about the competitions' results once they know them and to react to some other surprise developments, so leave some room for dessert.

The Grand Tourney is one of Thedas's greatest spectacles--all the nations of the world and plenty of others besides turned out to compete in this edition of the famous test of arms. The Duke of Wycome has granted the use of a broad plain outside the city, a vast open span of grass bounded on both sides by minor forks of the Minanter making their way to the sea, and split down the center by another. Scores of the duke's men have been hard at work since the announcement, constructing stands and arenas, the rough wooden rails and benches of the commons and luxurious boxes for the more exalted spectators, lifted above the masses and shaded by awnings, draped with bunting in Wycome's brilliant purple and gold.

Between and among the competition grounds are stalls and roving vendors selling anything and everything, most popular the vast open-sided tents filled with trestle tables and benches and neverending barrels of ale and wine as tall as a qunari. Stages of various sizes dot the grounds, hosting musicians, dancers, tumblers, performers of all kinds. Others wander through the crowds, putting on impromptu shows wherever it looks like there are enough people with free coin about.

A half-dozen new wooden bridges span the central river--more like a large stream, really--and connect the competition grounds to the camping grounds. Tents in all colors and styles are arrayed in rough groups, marked out with the banners of knights, houses, mercenary companies, kingdoms. The Inquisition has sprung for new tents for its delegation to make sure they look the part, dramatic black as a backdrop to the Inquisition banners that fly atop each of them, housing two to four people each. Nearest are some Orlesians with an array of brightly-colored silk structures, and on the opposite side, a mercenary company called the the Grizzly Legion, a particularly rowdy outfit, with banners market by a giant red bear, and bonfires and revelry late into the night every night.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The general atmosphere of the tourney is raucous and celebratory, but the rivalries inherent in the occasion seem less good-natured than they might have in past years. Nevarra seems divided into two camps rather than one, with a (not-yet-literal) line down the middle of their encampment and their crowds that's bridged only by the brave and slightly awkward few who still haven't chosen between the Pentaghasts and Van Markhams. And the Orlesians, despite rumors that the Empire is still struggling in the wake of its own civil war, seem particularly delighted to see their rivals teetering on the brink—some are even taking odds on how soon they'll be able to get Perendale back. But, of course, no one can rival Tevinter for smugness. If there was a fancy sword awarded for that, they would win it every year, and there's no sitting near their delegation without "overhearing" an unnecessarily loud conversation about the sorry state of the rest of Thedas.

Of course, not everyone is caught up in the affairs of surfacer empires: there are delegations from both Orzammar and Kal-Sharok, each apparently pretending the other does not exist, and the odd Avvar and Chasind who seems to think everyone else is being a bit ridiculous about everything. The most isolated attendees are those from the Anderfels, who stick close together and rarely speak to anyone else—not that anyone else seems much inclined even if they did want to. At the other end of the spectrum are the Free Marchers; this is the one occasion every-few-years when they look to one another as brothers, rather than distinct and often competitive nations.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

The Grand Tourney's official competitions are scheduled to take place over five days, culminating with the prestigious Grand Melee and awarding of the Celebrant. Before then, the tournament progresses day by day through unarmed combat, archery, armed combat, and jousting competitions, each heavily attended by delighted spectators cheering for their countrymen and any foreigner who strikes them as particularly charming, plus the odd equal-opportunity heckler. A few extra fights break out here and there when tempers flare, between both competitors and observers, and when the alcohol flows more liberally at night the chance of trouble rises. But for the most part, the competitions are fair and the mood around them is celebratory.

Away from the main grounds, a few additional staging areas have been provided for events focused on magic—these are more sparsely attended, due to their unofficial nature and the fears of much of the populace that they might catch a fireball to the face if they wander too close, but enough people's curiosity trumps fear to form a thinner, quieter crowd. The two events open to mages, combat against fade-touched creatures and a version of the melee with teams that allow mages, take place in the early mornings, when they won't be competing with the official events for attention, and are most heavily attended by Tevinter mages who are very, very certain that they can't be beat.

Comments

[thunderproof]

Before Myr's even finished speaking Adalia is shaking her head, taking his hand in hers and squeezing tightly.

"No, Myr, you didn't do anything wrong. We were both prepared — we were all prepared."

All but one, she doesn't say, because it would be too easy to point fingers and wail about carrying dead weight when they could have compensated. If they were smarter, if they were faster, if they were more powerful... If Adalia had caste haste instead of polymorph, if she had chosen better targets when attacking. They just weren't good enough, and that is a more difficult pill to swallow, but they won't get better if they don't, right?

Something like that. Maybe it'll be easier to feel more hopeful about it when her heart isn't in her throat making it difficult to breathe.

"I just wish it hadn't happened in front of so many people," she says, voice soft and pained. The publicity of it all is what hurts the most, knowing that everyone who thinks she's just a child saw evidence of that.

[faithlikeaseed]

Her words get a smile out of Myr--a thin, ephemeral thing, but a smile all the same; he squeezes her hand in return. "You're very kind to say so," he says with warm sincerity. Perhaps he's thinking along the same lines she is--down to the idea they simply should've done better to make up for the handicap. (In more ways than one; no question in his mind he'd put them at a disadvantage to begin with. Had it been selfish of him to sign up for this, knowing that?)

"And that's true enough as training goes, but the rest of it--the chaos of it," the entropy magic, "knowing we were being watched and weighed for everything we did--I can't begin to think how to prepare for it."

Except experiences just like this, hard-won and miserable as they are; he makes a noise of rueful, heartsore agreement with her wish. Maker, he'd been so glad of friends and supporters in the stands, but that happiness is altogether bittersweet now that it's all over, too soon. Simon, Nari, Inessa--they've all faith in him, and even as he knows that faith's not contingent on him being some flawless eidolon of a knight-enchanter, always victorious in battle-- He still wants sorely to have repaid that trust all at once, spectacularly, not by slow half-measures and gradual improvement. He's old enough to know by now life isn't ever like the stories, and yet...

Well. Better not to focus on his own shortcomings, to wallow and lose the lesson; better to turn outward and help.

"What do you think they saw?" The question's gentle; not insistent, not prying.