This past weekend (December 13th) was their 4th annual Tournaments of Artemis. Eight three-person teams led by their fierce generals of the Huntress guild competed in a variety of tourneys. If the Huntress guild's goal is to promote female fighters in the Realms, then this weekend proved just that; There was a myriad of amazing tournaments and combat challenges.
It started with the team grand melee which as expected was a grinder of blades and bodies between all the teams. Next up was “kill the Huntress”. Essentially a rendition of kill the queen, except the only team member who could affect the huntress was the huntress on your team; this created the interesting dynamic of either making the Huntresses fight one on one, or have your team rush their opponents and single out the huntress as fast as possible. After that was the Three vs Three person bear pit fights; a pretty standard competition of single combat, winner staying in to fight the next it the opposing line. Those were the unlimited fights, and every tournament after that were limited fights.
One of these was the relay race/fight. Two of the Huntresses would run from one end of the stadium to the other while their teammates pelted the other Huntress with magic missiles, stunning them for three seconds, the first to reach the end would receive one “resist death” call. Once at the end the two women would fight it out using whatever weapons or armor they decided to pick up on their way to the end.
The next tournament after that were the standard weapon combination fights: Single short, dagger, sword and dagger, sword and Shield, Sword and marn, True Florentine, Hand and Half, Pike, and 6'6”. Except that of the three people on each team, each person could only participate in three of the nine tournaments; this made strategizing which team member to go where paramount to winning each individual tournament.
The Final event of the day was a King of the Hill type fight. An area in the middle needed to be controlled by one team as they fought off all the other teams; an absolute bloodbath and blast, teams were rarely able to control the area for more than a few seconds before needing to respawn. After a set amount of time, the remaining people in the area would fight it out while everyone else watched and cheered on.
One of these was the relay race/fight. Two of the Huntresses would run from one end of the stadium to the other while their teammates pelted the other Huntress with magic missiles, stunning them for three seconds, the first to reach the end would receive one “resist death” call. Once at the end the two women would fight it out using whatever weapons or armor they decided to pick up on their way to the end.
The next tournament after that were the standard weapon combination fights: Single short, dagger, sword and dagger, sword and Shield, Sword and marn, True Florentine, Hand and Half, Pike, and 6'6”. Except that of the three people on each team, each person could only participate in three of the nine tournaments; this made strategizing which team member to go where paramount to winning each individual tournament.
The Final event of the day was a King of the Hill type fight. An area in the middle needed to be controlled by one team as they fought off all the other teams; an absolute bloodbath and blast, teams were rarely able to control the area for more than a few seconds before needing to respawn. After a set amount of time, the remaining people in the area would fight it out while everyone else watched and cheered on.
In addition to the structured tournaments, the Event staff also provided the Huntresses with a sheet of paper, listing several challenges they could complete by the end of the event for extra points. These tasks included fighting a member of The Order of the List, fighting a 2 on 1 against anyone, fighting the champion of any nation, and many other challenges. Additionally teams were given another challenge in the form of a written exam; it tested battlefield commanding and strategic ability by giving scenarios in which the Huntress had to decide the best course of action for their hypothetical teammates and what they needed to do to win. And if that wasn't enough, a non combat challenge in the form of puzzles was available to those who desired to do so.
The Blackwood Casino made an appearance, though Sir Tao was for a large period helping one of the Huntress teams that was down a team member, and who desperately needed his expertise (Thank you again for that Tao). A Bear pit run by Rillan and Wrath was also available to teams who wanted to score extra points by winning fights and staying in the pit. A special mention goes out to Quinn and her team (Saka and Saegan), who were given very short notice that they should compete.
All in all it was a great event run by a great crew of people, and at the end of the day the winner of Tournaments of Artemis IV was Team Grimloch, consisting of their leader Illy and her two team members Dygen and XT. Congratulations Illy on your well fought victory!