Introduction to Sword Fighting - WhoopAss 101

Thanks to a well timed invitation from Sir Telemachus in one of the multitudes of groups I've recently been invited to (and really need to discover what I've signed up for!) I had the pleasure of witnessing and participating in my first sword sparring in Caledon! Sir Telemachus' sparring invitation was accepted by the Lady Whoop...ah..Lady Diamanda. While observing the masterful fighters take turns demonstrating their skills, the newbie (me) worked at how to buckle his belt, strap shield on arm, load the HUD....stare at the HUD...stare some more...pull out his hieroglyphics manual and finally manage to pull the sword from its sheathe. Ah, sweet success!

Once the pro pair were complete and the applause died down, Lady Dia (if i may) was kind enough to invite me into the arena for a beating..ah..a lesson. Here's how the several rounds of sparring went...

• Round 1 - Lady Dia pushes Rascal's head in the snow....deep. (In a very sweet gesture of friendship, she quickly commented that the snow will help stem the blood flow.)
• Round 2 - Lady Dia pushes Rascal's head in the snow...not as deep.
• Round 3 - Rascal pushes Lady Dia's head in the snow (note: she had just completed 7+ rounds of sparring, so I imagine carpal tunnel was setting in for her.)
• Round 4, 5, 6 - Back and forth wins, with Lady Dia still continuing to school Rascal in the art of spinning around to find the redhead before she smites you.

All in all...a GREAT FIGHT! Truly something I would love to do more of. So, I would like to offer anyone who wants a shot at “beat the newbie” to please IM me immediately. I would love the practice.

So...thank you to Lady Dia for the very valuable lesson. (leaves keyboard to place ice pack back on head.)