By: Kersten "Ypnn" Prince
(*) Pictures taken by the author
(#) Pictures taken by Aaron "Laird Sir Magus Rel Zhirah" Metzger
As a starting note, I am amongst the newest adventurers of the Realms, with Tournaments of Artemis being my second event. Bear in mind I am still learning a lot about the verbal and written language, however this is written as accurately as I can manage!
Upon arriving in my carriage with my team members for the tournament and entering the tournament's building, we were quickly guided to the arena area for the tournament. Having arrived a bit early, we had plenty of time to unload our equipment and get armor on the fighters. From various training sessions, myself and my team members had met a few other teams participating in the tournament that set up with us upon arrival, leading to friendly chatter and fighting warm ups during set up as well. Those leading the tournament announced as various enjoyments opened such as the casino as well as when those participating had to sign off on being present.
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| # Some of the Earliest Preparations for Team Ttnn, Crazy Cats, and Cimone's Wyverns. |
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| * Practice between Drifter and Garen before the Tournament. |
Come the sun's highest point, the tournament began with Huntresses such as myself being called to the tournament's organizer. She announced the first event - a grand melee - as well as informed us that following the fight we would be speaking of who our teams were and announcing our team names. Us Huntresses returned to our teams to announce the ongoings, and we soon began.
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| # The Huntresses and Supporters Were Randomly Organized into a Circle for the Grand Melee. |
As it was very early in the day, I missed out on learning the identity of who won the grand melee, however after the rather quick fight we organized ourselves into teams. With a mention to there being a contest on who had the most creative team name, each Huntress was called upon to share their name, the names of their supporters, and the team's name. It was also announced that there would be an ongoing side event of archery, where each participant could gain points through testing the aim on circles.
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| # Cimone's Wyverns during the Team Announcements. |
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| # Team Ttnn During the Team Announcements. |
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| # Crazy Cats During the Team Announcements. |
Following the events announcements, we began classic 4 v 4 team battles, going through a series of fights against the other teams.
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| # The Crazy Cats against Cimone's Wyverns during the 4 v 4's. |
After the 4 v 4 tournaments, the next challenge was announced to the Huntresses - Each team, beginning on three spaces of a massive depiction of a to-be-owned island's map display, would slowly expand throughout the map and fight those they challenged of the opposing teams. The Huntress of the team that won, no matter the results of the Tournaments of Artemis, would be the Duchess of this island.
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| # A Moment During the Island Competition. |
After a break following the island competition, the Huntresses and their supporters were split up. While the supporters played games in another room to win lives for the upcoming competition, the Huntresses engaged one on one combat. Switching from single shorts, through the three popular combos, to each Huntress' preferred combos or whichever combo the Huntress wishes to use for a particular fight.
As these fights came to a close, the supporters, having completed their games, had began a gaming of strength that involved attempting to use a rope to pull the opposing team to their side while the opposing team attempted the same. Following this event and a break for the Huntresses, a new game was introduced involving attempting to have your foot inside of a box for as long as possible. Huntresses began with a single short while the supporters ran searching for the solutions to clues to get a better combo for their Huntresses.
As the time since the sun had departed grew longer, we moved from fighting to feasting as Huntresses and supporters alike participated in a very complicated "pun" game. This involved being given two hints to find a joke version of a word or phrase relating these hints. Following this game and a short break, we moved along to our final challenge: A "King of the Hill" challenge where each team was attempting to have as many members on a large box when time was randomly called. Having been quite tired by this point, myself and Huntresses I knew prior to the event, Aoife and Cimone, agreed to work together to find some success during this challenge.
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| # A Moment during the Final Challenge. |
Following this challenge, the winners were announced and prizes chosen. Many of us took the time to talk to the other teams, congratulate winners, and enjoy the vitality of the event. A thoroughly enjoyable event, I believe we all traveled home exhausted but happy.