"I met Dave Dolph (Sir Callin of Folkstone, KoR) very, very early in my Realms career, well before either of us had been knighted. He was one of those northern guys who hung out with that long haired, fork-wielding dude who looked like he was the lead singer for a bad '80s metal band.
That would be Jarrod, of course, but Dave didn't look like a rock and roll star. Dave looked like a big kid, probably of German descent, with arms a bit longer than he probably had any right to possess, hair a bit thinner than anyone his age should have had, and a quiet disposition that conveyed great strength and intelligence.
Now those of you who think people hit hard nowadays should know that folks also used to hit hard back in the day. I remember being called for a tourney against Callin and hearing someone else yell out Callin's name for another tourney at the same time.
We tapped swords and I probably made the mistake of standing just a hair too close to him. No - he didn't hit me right off the tap, but after a brief pause, his hand and a half went from being straight up and down in a guarding position to slamming down on the top of my head so fast it was stunning. He didn't bother to feint or mess around - he just clocked me one and ran off to his other tourney. He had amazing speed and he wasn't afraid to use it.
I learned something from that and it wasn't that Dave was a bad, unsportsmanlike fighter or a big dumb clumsy brute. I learned that I needed to get better at parrying head shots. I also learned that when someone thinks you are a good fighter, they tend to swing faster and as a result, harder. Obviously, you should never hit hard, but thanks to Dave when I do get clocked I have learned to assume that my opponent must have thought I was a pretty good fighter because they sure needed to bring it up a notch when fighting me. Sometimes with great speed comes great impact.
I didn't write this with the intention of telling you about the time Dave hit me so hard that I remembered it 20 years later.
Even back then, Dave was in possession of one of fastest, most efficient head-shots with a hand and a half that our sport had ever seen. Over the years I marshaled a great many tournaments and had the pleasure of watching him destroy an incredible number of opponents with a skill and grace, a poise and a level of control that has rarely been matched in our community's 20+ year history.
I had the honor of awarding him the titles of Champion of Chiron and the first Champion of Queen of Hearts. I was also able to watch him elevate the role of Knighthood in the Realms, sacrificing himself for the greater good and always giving young people an impossibly high bar to try to reach in their own Realms careers. He also grew into a great event holder and one of the most dependable folks you could ever get to be working on your plot or event, if you were so lucky as to get him involved.
I had the honor of standing before my fellow KoR and telling them that Dave was the next person we should bring into the order, though in truth it was the most obvious thing in the world so I can't really take any credit for it. One might likewise be the first to "call" a sunrise, but whether you called it or not, that sun was darn well going to rise.
All of that is well and good, but what I want to tell you about is the day that he taught us all what a true master can do on the field, outnumbered, alone, with just one sword in his hands.
I think it was at a Feast of Min, and I think it was before Dave, Randy Gordon and I were all brought into the KoEF together.
The event holders had decided to run a tourney where entrants got a chance to go in alone against a field of opponents wielding single shorts. I think it might have been called a "Goblin Horde" tourney, and it's possible he didn't even have armor to absorb shots. Other entrants had gone in, maybe killed one or even a small handful of goblins, but all had fallen to the horde fairly quickly.
Eventually Callin's turn came.
If you have fought Callin even a few times, you know that when he fights with a hand and a half, he has a way of stretching out his arm with the sword that is quintessentially Dave. I can't even describe it, but if you were to see someone do the same little stretch, you might understand what I mean. It's like a great hitter's routine as they prepare in the batter's box. It's always the same, and if you're about to fight him, it might even scare you just a little bit.
Dave walked into the center of the field.
Fighters with single shorts playing the role of goblins spread out on all sides of him. There might have been 20 of them. There were certainly over a dozen.
Dave stretched out his hand and a half, taking its length in his quirky pre-fight stretch.
He waited.
There was silence.
The marshal called the lay on…
In a burst of speed, he ran towards the "goblins" on the edge of the field in front of him, and then an amazing thing happened.
I only understand now what was going on, and I'm sure he had done it many times before, but let me try to break it down to its base mechanics…
He would get within range of a goblin, hand and a half upright and ready to throw for a head shot. As the opponent looked for some indication of what was about to befall them, he would then pump his right shoulder forwards maybe two or three inches without actually throwing the shot. The opponent would tense up, and then freeze. There's no other word for it really. They just froze, like a deer in headlights, waiting for the Mack Truck that was bearing down upon them to actually hit. That little shoulder pump was all he needed, and then when he threw the head shot that I described earlier, there was no earthly way they were ever going to stop it from hitting its target. It was impossible.
He didn't hit especially hard.
He hit perfectly.
He ran the edge of that clearing throwing shoulder pumps and head shots and probably a great many other feints and attacks than I can remember now, 20 years later, and at the end of it all, they were all dead and he remained standing.
There wasn't a hint of a missed shot.
There wasn't an ounce of wasted effort.
It might have been one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life - certainly in the context of a Realms event.
At the time our community had known great fighters in Prince Bob, Sir Eldritch, and a few others who were able to occasionally catch lightning in a bottle and make the potential beauty of our great sport evident to all who are watching. We had seen glimmerings of greatness in a young Blade, and had seen Swan tease us with the potential he possessed. We had seen people dominate in the tourney ring. I had never before seen what Dave showed us that day and I'm not sure I have seen it since.
For that moment of greatness, and for everything else he has given to the Realms community over his glorious career, I thank him from the bottom of my heart.
Sincerely,
- Stephen Johnson (Sir Duncan of Rhiassa)