OPEN | the grand tourney!

[poleaxed]

WHO: All Y'all.
WHAT: It's the Grand Tourney! Like a normal Tourney, but grand.
WHEN: August Now.
WHERE: Kirkwall.
NOTES: Sports... injuries?

Every thousand days, the Grand Tourney is organized in the Free Marches, and all the City States-- and even challengers from farther abroad-- come together to celebrate the freedom of the Marches. This year, the event was intended to take place in Tantervale.

When that, uh, fell apart, the tourney was hastily moved to the relative safety of Kirkwall.

Festivities begin early, with musicians and entertainers coming from all around to entertain lords and ladies as they set up tents. Food vendors complete the picnic atmosphere-- you may not be able to get a seat in the stands, but the hills around where the field where it all takes place makes the event easily viewed by all. Jesters, bards, troubadours, food vendors, all are happy to serve and make the event lively and lovely-- for a price.

The first event is the Joust. The announcer goes through everyone's names, their origins, the part they play, so the crowd knows who to root for and who to boo. Before the individual bouts begin, the jousters are expected to ride around the field collecting favors.

The second event is the Quintain. A similar setup to the Joust takes place, with announcements and cheering, gaining favors, etc. The major difference-- besides the content of the event itself-- is the hastily erected judge's stand, where they can view the skills of each comptetitor. Some scores are met with cheers, some with boos. Some competitors schmooze with the judges before their bout. It's all very classy.

In the intermission guests are invited to play a game of tug-of-war over two large piles of flowers and flower petals. As the loosers will discover, there's a pit of mud underneath the flowers. Hopefully you brought a second pair of clothes, or maybe you just don't care Edgard.

If tug-of-war isn't your game, there's drunken archery. Darktown's very best (worst) booze has been generously donated (appropriated) for the event. One shot to begin, and more shots for every subsequent shot of your bow. Landing closer to bullseye garners more points, and prizes can be collected for high point scores. Nothing particularly valuable, it's more like carnival fare-- stuffed toys, shiny gems (they are colored glass), wood carved in various shapes (some lewd). The most expensive prize is a hangover cure potion (it does not work).

The final event is the ever-popular Melee, where several one-on-one matches take place simultaneously, until someone is either undefeated or the least defeated. As with previous events, each combatant is announced to the crowd and expected to walk around the stands, receiving favors. However, they're expected to do this between every match in the melee, as their popularity rises... or falls.

During all of this, the ever-noble Pas d'Armes event is taking place. If you wander away from the event at any time, Gabranth will be there, at a nearby bridge, judging and / or fighting anyone who wishes to pass. Of course, if you wish to pass without issue, he will accept a favor from you. At the end, he'll be crowned with a white wreath of flowers, in a 'peace offering', and that is the sign that the tourney is done.

Not counting the partying into the night. No medieval camping trip is complete without waking up half clothed in a field, right?

JUST TELL ME WHO WON ALREADY.fine, fine, jesus.

THE JOUST

1st Place: Tony Stark, The Iron Man (Erroneously called 'The Man of Iron' at least once by an announcer. Several people in the stands asked if he was made of iron, why he was called that, what is he doing, why.)
2nd Place: Weary Winona of Wycome (Never took off her helm, which was shaped like a woman's face and painted like she was crying.)
3rd Place: 'Sir Sullivan of Bonneville'(Who might just be Edgard in disguise, however legend has it he's actually an undead noble trying to reclaim his family's honor in the joust. This legend was started by Jone.)
Crowd Favorite: Ellis, The Bachelor (He was, at one point, mostly just a mass of favors, which may have been why he didn't rank. The crowd screamed his name repeatedly and at one point threw flowers at him while he was riding past.)

THE QUINTAIN

1st Place: Derrica, the Rivaini Raider (The chant 'carry me home' began during her bout, and continued whenever she walked near the field.)
2nd Place: Derek, Son of Derek, of the Ostwick Dereks (The 'carry me home' chant continued during his bout, as some confusion arose over whether Derrica was a distant relation of the Ostwick Dereks.)
3rd Place: Madame Noir of Hasmal (A ghostly pale woman wearing only a black gown during her match, there were rumors she'd bribed the judges with money or a low neckline.)
Crowd Favorite: Beth Greene, The Lady of the Green (Rumor has it that she was a wild woman who came from the forests just to compete. This rumor was also started by Jone.)

THE MELEE

1st Place: Pierre the Virtuous of Hambleton (On a particularly sunny day, some suspect he only won because the reflection from his bald head.)
2nd Place: 'The Dark Jaguar' (Who may be Erik Stevens in disguise. A nighttime assassin, he appears from nowhere during a fight usually with the aid of a conveniently placed piece of hanging black fabric but shhhh.)
3rd Place: Laura, Lady Nightshade (Rumor has it she threw her fight to get third place, but everybody who knows Laura knows she'd never do that... right?)
Crowd Favorite: 'The Acolyte' (A young man of roughly the same height and build as Benedict Artemaeus, the crowd really responded to how nervous, yet trying to be brave, he looked.)

THE OVERALL WINNER OF EVERYTHING:
Ser John 'the Anointed John' Pembroke of Tantervale
...who trained for this every day and is a professional Tourneyman, and whose win for Tantervale really lifted the spirit of the game to a high note, so how can we be bitter, really.
(Note to 1st placers in other events: this means he beat you in your event.)

[ooc Also final reminder that you don't have to have signed up for an event to have your character participate!!!]

Comments

[icasm]

[ It's very fascinating, really, the artwork in the margins along with the writing. The doodles tell quite a story and Loki looks at each one for a moment, brushing his fingers along unfamiliar glyphs and the recently familiar yet tiny Allumin.

He nods along as the other talks. A type of learning magic that is bound by understanding and language and how one puts knowledge to use. ] Each spell is then unique to the caster, [ Loki murmurs, smiling at the images he assume go along with the mage's hand spell. ]

Magic here is different, by my understanding. Spirits can be bound to tomes but they are not the same as this. [ There is knowing a thing, in the body, and there is knowing in the mind, and he's not sure they are the same here in Thedas. He continues turning the pages, curious about the spells further in, and what the drawings in the margins might tell him of them. ]

[voidtransport]

[There's an 'mm, mmhmm' of agreement from Allumin who nods, mouth full of wine before he swallows.]

I haven't found anything really similar here in my own research.

[Another early spell in the book is covered with drawings of a long haired ferret that's a little round ball in one image and a loooooooong body in the next. There are hearts and little magic swirls drawn around the images of the animal. Find Familiar... Allumin doesn't think that one will work here.

The deeper in Loki goes, the more consistent and elegant the penmanship and drafting becomes, and the concepts illustrated also improve. Some also deviate from the more literal images to more esoteric or metaphorical ones. One spell has a page with different kinds of masks drawn all over it around the writing, and the opposite page has a drawing of a person partway through changing their appearance.

After a certain point, a different script begins to also appear alongside the previous one in his notes, though not with as much frequency. Around this point is also when the first spells for fighting also shows up, with streaks of fire that sometimes travel from one edge of a page all the way across to the opposite one, with writing arranged around it, and figures implied to be frozen in place.]

I haven't researched much into spirits being bound, but from what I have read that seems sort of ill-advised? [Even back home, most would consider that a bad idea. Enchanted items are one thing, but binding spirits can get complicated... messy. A memory of his own image but with empty black eyes and a black tome comes to mind, and he shudders.

He is glad that book did not come with him.]

[icasm]

I'm not sure that there is anything similar here, in Thedas. [ Loki’s fingers trace over the images of the ferret before he refocuses on the next page. ] The way they learn magic requires a focus for most practitioners; the staves they all use are part of that. Magic comes from the Fade, all magic, and the Fade is filled to the brim with demons and spirits.

[ The combat spells are interesting too, and Loki takes his time with these as he did for the pages before. ] Nothing about it is safe or sane, honestly.

sorry loki, he forgot about these pages

[voidtransport]

Sounds like warlocks. [The way he says it is with the kind of annoyed matter-of-factness that implies he does not have a fond opinion of them. Then, a beat.] Which, I suppose for some people is fine, but generally no good comes from it.

[Trying to reconcile how judgemental he sounded just now, he is fine, he's a perfectly reasonable person with good manners.]

I mean, if the Fade is where the Maker is supposed to reside - if I'm remembering right - then it's at least a bit more respectable than the usual warlock pact. Oh, but it does also have a relation to their faith, so maybe they're more like clerics... [A finger taps at his chin as he things about that, narrowing his eyes.] There are clerics affiliated with darker gods...

[Further in, there is a spread with notes that feel not right compared to the pages before. The usual art is there - more detailed now, more refined - he drew it when he was 25 after all. On one side of the spread near a far upper corner is a little piece of paper with a portal open above it. A person is stepping through and half of their body is missing from the other side, and if Loki were to look to the opposite corner on the other page, there is another piece of paper with a portal and the rest of the person emerging through it.

There are notes in the swirling script, in the more harsh looking second one, but also a third kind of lettering appears on this page. The letters appear sort of between the two styles, but also not quite - there is no fluidity in the lines, they are harsh, perfectly straight, perfect angles, perfect parallels, with perfect circles here and there along its letters. It is too perfect. It is unnaturally so.

The bottom of the pages are splattered with black ink, and perhaps if one observed hard enough you could tell that one of the stains has indents and spacing in the paper that imply fingers, desperate to dig and pull closer something just almost out of reach.]

welp now he's very curious but he's also just gonna /whistles and keeps going

[icasm]

What is the difference between a warlock and a wizard, where you're from? [ Loki turns his head to look at Allumin. ] The source of their magic?

[ It's easier, he thinks, when magic is just magic and practitioners are not separated into types or abilities, but then again he comes from a very small monoculture. He believes a lot of things are easier when they're simplistic and done the same way by everyone involved.

He notices the impossibly straight lines of the text first. Then the little drawing of the person traveling... through a black hole, perhaps, or into a place of darkness, and then he notices the ink marks at the bottom of the page.

Staring at it for a moment he memorizes what he can of the way the page is laid out before he turns the page to find a different spell (and vibe) entirely. Something about setting an alarm should a person cross a space, if Loki is interpreting the drawings correctly. On the page after that, something about locks. Shiny, magical appearing locks of all shapes and sizes on any number of items. ]

How many of these are inacessible to you now?

[voidtransport]

Pretty much - also since warlocks receive their power from an outside source, they don't really have to learn how to do things, just how to control them. It's already dangerous, especially if you happen to end up in a pact with a malicious entity - some pacts are so binding that not even death will let the person be free of it.

A wizard's source of magic is internal. For people who are born without magic though, a warlock pact is a small price to pay for power.

[Conveniently, Allumin is looking off into the distance, watching the games underway as he enjoys the spiced wine when Loki happens to pass the particularly unique spread in his spellbook. When he does happen to glance over, the pages have already moved on to more harmless spells.]

Without a staff, most of them - even with one, I'm still trying to get the hang of the more difficult ones here. There's one in there to summon my familiar - you've probably already seen it - and that one I haven't had any success with but I also didn't see them when I woke up so they might not have crossed the Fade with me. [In which case, yeah... probably won't work.] I have a long distance teleportation spell but it doesn't work at all, though the one that covers less ground still seems to work.

There's one that allows me to plant a simple suggestion in someone's mind and they're inclined to follow through with it, but I haven't... had the courage to, ah, ask anyone to test it out and see. [It would sound sketchy no matter how he asked.]

[icasm]

[ Loki is reminded of being asked by Alexandrie about where the source of his magic was and not really having an answer for her; did it exist within him or within Asgard? Did it exist in the heart of a star? He doesn't know. Odin may have, or Frigga, but neither of them are around for him to ask.

Now it's different, anyway. All magic in Thedas comes from the Fade. ]

Do all warlocks have to have a pact?

[ He's guessing yes, but. The more information he gathers, the better.

At Allumin's mention of a 'simple suggestion' spell Loki tilts his head at him. Does he feel like he wants to be the example in Allumin's magical thought experiment?

Mm. Nope. ]

Perhaps you could use it on the front line.

[voidtransport]

Where I'm from at least, yes. You can't just take the magic without a contract. Generally the patron writes it, but I have seen one instance in which it wasn't - honestly I am not sure which is worse, being bound to a patron with ill intent, or a patron being bound by it.

[He sighs at Loki's suggestion and shakes his head.]

If it doesn't work, I'd just be putting myself and others in danger for wasting time. Some risks are not worth the reward.

[There are a couple of other spells further in that feature the same too-straight-and-circular script from before. One appears to be the short distance teleportation spell he mentioned before, the other shows a person standing over a black pit bound by shadows. These are the only other times it appears though, the rest of the spells are written with the first two alphabets.]

[icasm]

What is required for one to become a patron? I'm presuming some magical ability and aptitude of their own.

[ Things Loki knows something about: being an arts patron. Being a magical one? Not so much, honestly.

He notes the other two spells in the same too-precise language. The second gives him a little more pause than the first, but he's unsure of what it means and uncertain that he wants to bring Allumin's attention to them. There's the very real possibility that the wizard wouldn't want to discuss these apparent outliers in his book of spells.

Sometimes it's preferable not to give a person the third degree until you know them a little better. If you want to remain on friendly terms, at least. ]

...What are the non-combat applications of such a spell?

[ Is he going to regret asking? Probably not, asking questions is how you learn after all. ]

[voidtransport]

You would be correct, as long as you have a strong enou-- [He starts to answer the first question when he turns his head to look at which spell in specific Loki is calling attention to.

Ah. That one. Hm.]

A strong... enough... control over magic, yes... [He at least finishes his sentence as he tries to think about what he could even say about that spell.]

It doesn't have one, unless the person bound enjoys being in pain.

[Better to just be honest and straightforward than to dance around it.]

[icasm]

Hm, [ is all the response Loki gives to... all of that, actually. He's glad that he appropriately understood Allumin's shorthand drawings regarding the binding spell, and that he has a better sense of what it takes for one to be a magical patron in his world, even though he has his doubts about either of them returning from whence they came in the first place.

Still. He shuts the book, carefully, and balances it on his knees before picking up his tankard again and taking a sip. ]

[voidtransport]

One does simply need to defend themselves on occasion.

[There is a complicated relationship already with that spell and where it came from, not to mention the fact he can't even say he's not proud of it - he has enough of an ego to feel puffed up when felling an enemy with his magic that he can't pretend otherwise. So there's no denial that it's bad but also no remorse over it either. Just an awkward acceptance of the necessity to survive.

He too takes a sip of his drink.]

[icasm]

You won't hear me say anything to the opposite of that. [ He raises his eyebrows at Allumin. ] Which is to say, I'm not judging you for what you've learned.

[ He'd be a unique sort of fool to do so, by his own consideration. ]

Which one is your favorite?

[voidtransport]

[He feels a bit relieved to hear that, enough that he tries to make a mindful effort to move past the complicated nature of his feelings and instead focus on the question asked.]

Overall? Mage Hand, easily. In a fight... probably Vampiric Touch - heals the caster when you injure your opponent, which is quite useful.

[icasm]

That is quite useful.

[ Is Loki annoyed that he knows no healing spells at this rate? Maybe. Maybe more than a little bit.

He drums his fingers against his leg in thought for a moment before continuing with: ]

Thank you for being willing to show me these.

[voidtransport]

Of course. Thank you for being willing to listen - it's been more than a little frustrating feeling like I had no one to really discuss magic with.

[Allumin looks over the tournament, wishing perhaps that there was something similar to this but for magic. There's the obvious danger to be concerned about such a thing, he imagines, but maybe if it were handled well and it was enjoyed for the sport of it like fighting with swords and lances then the cognition would change.

Until then, he thinks of perhaps a decent alternative.]

If there's ever a time you'd like to see them in practice, we could have a little demonstration at the Gallows in the training yard. I'd be interested in learning more about what you can do. [Said as a general statement because he isn't entirely sure actually what sort of magical aptitude Loki has, now that he thinks about it.

Now that he thinks about it, he has mostly been talking about himself. Loki asked, but still. He feels a creeping shame for not spending equal focus on his conversational partner, and more for not even realizing until now.]