pun_king | The Kingdom of Daventry; Monday [05/06] - Day ONE of the Tournament of Knights!

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The Kingdom of Daventry; Monday [05/06] - Day ONE of the Tournament of Knights!

It was a beautiful, gorgeous day in Daventry. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, there was a touch of a breeze blowing through the thick canopy of trees that spread over the lush land, while adorable critters frollicked and played. It was just the sort of day to usher in the beginning of a great and exciting Tournament of Knights! The Daventry Inn was ready to open its doors to visitors from far and wide, competitors and spectators alike! Come one, come all, for the time had come, for the Tournament to begin.

Settled among majestic mountains and thick, mysterious woods, the Kingdom of Daventry called for the bold, the brave, and the wise, under the watchful eye of its impressive castle. The bridges over its many roaring rivers might be out, making journeying too far beyond the village and the castle grounds a bit difficult, but the call of adventure was in the air, and, in a few short days, there would be a new knight amongst their ranks. Who would find themselves with this new prestigious title? Only time would tell!

[[ it's time, it's time! Come one, come all (especially if you've gotten an invitation, but even then, the portal is very open! Day one of the tournament! NFB for distance, OCD is up! Today is mostly a lot of "interact with the NPCs and each other" day, with the exception of when I get the chance to post plot-related things later in the day. Huzzah! ]]

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Fandomites would find their portal taking them from the island to just outside the Daventry Inn, where all arrangements had already been made to accommodate all of the visitors here to experience the Tournament first hand. Complimentary breakfast will be served early in the morning, but good luck finding too much help from the innkeeper, who is also quite swept up in the Tournament's flurry of activities! Feel free to mod your room arrangements, share with your friends or get your own, there's plenty of room and a nice comfy common area to sit and make your plans and get excited for the day ahead!

Nestled on one side of the village courtyard is a cozy little blacksmith shop that might seem a little familiar to those coming from Fandom; after all, the woman running it currently was one of your very own teachers, and she modeled her (admittedly much larger) shop there after this one! She may be a bit busy working on all those bridges around the kingdom and doing other prep for the tournament, but you might catch her for a moment, check out some of the weapons here, or just hang out until she gets back from....whatever's got her attention. Ahem.

Follow your nose to the back of the courtyard into the bakery run by one Wente Fey, a cheerful baker with a moustache as impressive as he good cheer, his baked goods, and his hugs! Surely you'll want a nice struedel or muffin to munch on when watching the festivities!

Opposite of the courtyard to the blacksmith shop and up a small flight of stairs is the magic shop run by the Hobblepots, a very old and very judgemental married couple who specialize in trinkets, curiosities, potions, and other oddities. Come on in and have a look around, although if you haven't got any shiny gold coins, they might be a little less inclined to help.

As everyone is getting settled and situated and familiar with the village and maybe planning what else to do with their time, there is a sudden excitement from the courtyard as the Daventry Guard marches through, in their shining armor, their sharp spears, and colorful livery to announce the start of the Parade of Hopeful Knights! Come one, come call, gather to catch the participants as they make their way to the Tournament Stage to officially begin!

....but wait! The Parade of Hopeful Knights? Now? Weren't things supposed to kick off tomorrow? Had anyone seen Graham? Had he arrived yet? Did he know about the change in date and time? There was nothing to do about it now! Already, the contestants were riding their mighty steeds through the winding Daventry roads, waving, preening, showcasing their impressive armor and gravitas. Everyone in town will be on their way to witness the spectacle and cheer on their new prospective knights!

The end of the parade will lead the Knight Hopefuls and their admiring fans to a large tent erected on the castle grounds, accessible by a bridge that....oh, bother! Even though they'd had the blacksmith put together a makeshift bridge since the trolls were on strike, it seemed the trolls had also gone and dismantled it in the middle of the night, and there was no way to cross the river to get the knights inside to start officially processing their paperwork and getting things underway!

The guards have asked anyone not a knight or not the blacksmith to stand back while they figure this out!

Once a solution was (eventually, to be played out in the comments, naturally), the knights have all been officially entered in as competitors in the Tournament, and the announcement has been made that tomorrow will feature the Hunt for the Eye of a Hideous Beast! Yay. Competitors may start now, but they are expected to return to Headquarters tomorrow at five to present their Eye of a Hideous Beast to prove they have what it takes to be a member of the Daventry Guard! Who will show they have the mettle to continue? Only time will tell! Until then, enjoy a nice quiet evening in Daventry, and tomorrow? The real fun begins!

In the meantime, the guests and knights have the evening to themselves to enjoy! Feel free to mod adventures about the town or the kingdom, put where you are in the subject line so others can know where to join you, and get ready for the real excitement to begin bright and early in the morning!

With apologies if work ends up EATING ME, but hopefully, I can hit all the beats I need to for today....eventually!

Hit me up if there's questions, but other than that, guests of Graham, come have fun, enjoy, and let the Tournament (finally!) BEGIN!!

As someone who had grown up enamored with the past and spent a lot of her youth trying to imagine what it was like to actually live in it, Libby was thrilled to get one last chance to do just that before all but disappearing entirely into the grueling gauntlet of her own chosen profession. And the fact that it was to support Graham just made it that much more special and magical.

Honestly, it felt a little like being able to experience a real DnD campaign in real time for a few days! She was clearly thrilled to arrive and get settled and find out what sorts of adventures they could get into!

All of Arden's clothing was hopelessly Earth modern, which she didn't think would go over well in Daventry. And rather than show up and make Graham look bad by association or something, she'd panicked and ~~handwavily~~ asked Boc to make her enough clothing to get her through the tournament. Boc had more than delivered, giving her clothing that managed to fit her personal aesthetic as well as the ~~generic fantasy~~ vibe she'd gotten from Graham and Professor Blackstone.

So here she was, in the first of her outfits, looking around a little nervously. Were they supposed to pretend to be from Daventry? From some far away land no one had ever heard of? Admit to being from a different world and time? Something else? Was she overthinking it?

(Regardless of the answer of anything else, the answer to the last question was unequivocally 'yes.')

At first, Arden had watched the parade of knights with a small smile, thinking of stories from when she was little, of brave knights coming to rescue beautiful princesses and carrying them in their surprising muscular arms...

But stupid little fantasies didn't last beyond the sudden realization that today was Monday, not Tuesday, and Graham had definitely said things started Tuesday, which meant he was expecting this all to happen tomorrow and--

"Oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck," Arden muttered as she pulled out her phone from the cunning pocket Boc had stitched in for her in the skirt. Thank the goddess they'd verified that texting worked in Daventry already...

GRAHAM! GRAHAM! THE PARADE OF HOPEFUL KNIGHTS IS HAPPENING NOW! PLS TELL ME UR IN IT!

Irene -- who had dressed for her portal in style and packed accordingly, anticipating a need to fit in and not draw attention to herself much like Arden had -- took a moment to get her bearings, once she arrived. She clocked the castle, the buildings of the village, the inn where the others would be staying, her mind taking in everything about this place.

Not just because it was where Amaya was from, though that was, of course, part of it. She just also had never been anywhere like this before! (Not for real, anyway.)

It did not take long at all to find the shop with the anvil over the door, and tempted though she was to find some child to carry her lone bag (just the one! Be proud of her!) over, she actually managed it herself.

"Hello, has anyone seen an extremely clever and attractive blacksmith?" she called as she opened the door.

Hopefully you were either alone, Amaya, or any friends you had over were prepared for Irene.

Normally, Amaya would be spending her morning going around the kingdom, checking the makeshift bridges to ensure that the Troll Union hadn't gone and messed with them in the middle of the night, but, with the visitors coming in from Daventry today, she wanted to stay close to the town so that ~~Irene~~ anyone ~~Irene~~ could easily track her down in case they needed anything. Weapons. Guidance. A tour or a lay of the land. ~~Emotioanal reunion~~. Whatever...

Besides, she was pretty distracted by some other shenanigans that had happened in the night, which she was pretty sure was unrelated, though you never could tell! That was why, when Irene came into the shop, she'd find Amaya glaring into space with a deep frown of commiseration, while clinging to a coffee mug.

But all thoughts of whatever it was she was pondering left her brain entirely when she blinked toward the door at that greeting and just stared a moment.

Look, it had been a long couple of weeks. And to have her arrive like that.

"Irene," she finally said, after clearing her throat and bolstered herself with a deep swig of coffee, giving her as staunch a nod as she could muster, "I see you've certainly dressed for the occasion."

And why eouldn't she? She was Irene Adler! But this occasion, inparticilar, felt markedly unfair.

She had even less fair gowns in her bag, too! (And a hair-dryer. She wasn't going for authenticity, necessarily.)

She lightly tossed her bag to the floor, swishing her way over to Amaya with a bright smile. "I didn't want to stand out too much."

She wanted to stand out just enough. Fine distinction.

But she was also, out of courtesy, darting a glance around before getting too much into Amaya's space, no matter how she'd missed her. This was her workplace, and Irene respected that, even more than she did in Fandom. (She also just wanted to get a real good look at the original forge, too, but there'd be time for that.) "Nice place you've got here."

This place was certainly different to either the island or back home or anywhere else Vi had been so far.

This felt a bit like home and Belle was somewhat startled to find that she was enjoying the familiarity. Was she homesick? She'd never admit it.

If nothing else this was an excuse to wear some clothing she'd long since retired in favor of modern Earth fashions while in Fandom.

Arden had exceptionally good senses, which meant that the scent of naked goods was an exceptional lure to the frequently-hungry sylph.

She followed her nose to back of the back of the courtyard, pausing for a moment to let a passing bird alight on her finger and sing its little birdy heart out at her. This was much nicer than Fandom birds who seemed to take her status as 'honorary family member' to be 'bullyable baby cousin.'

She set the bird on she shoulder where it continued to sing and went to explore this bakery.

"God, it's like I literally stepped into one of my games," Steph said, a tad less gleefully than one might have expected but delightedly nonetheless. "Amazing."

"Meh," said Amaya, with a small shrug of her shoulders, "I've had better."

And that wasn't her being humble or even suggestive or cute; it was just categorically true. Even though you could see the electrical fixes she already added here and there, the Daventry shop was like a smaller, more bare-bones version of the Fandom one. Irene would have likely noticed that this one had the benefit of an outdoor forge as well as the one inside, and Amaya did enjoy that detail, but really, it would feel like just a more rustic, cozier, less elaborate copy of the shop they both knew and loved so much over the years.

And even though Amaya had spent an undue amount of time thinking about the moment when Irene would walk through that door, now that she was faced with it, she was almost at a loss for what to do or say, all those grand and clever and attractive scenarios seemingly vanished right out of her head.

She was going to blame the rude awakening she'd had that morning.

"Did everyone get in okay, then?" she asked.

She hadn't heard any distress or anything from outside, so that was a good sign, right?

And as she entered the bakery and started to look around, a rotund and cheerful fellow and his amazing mustache bustled out from the back with a hearty chuckle.

"Good morning!" he said. "And welcome to my bakery! In for the tournament, are you? Or just for my goods? Let me know if you knead anything!" There was no denying the twinkle in his eye over the subtle pun, made less suble by his emphasis. "I'll be happy to rise to thr occasion!"

Oh. It was a cultural ~~failing~~ thing. Got it. Arden inhaled, reminded herself she was doing this for Graham, and let loose. "One of my friends is a Hopeful, but right now I'm just exploring and this seemed like a bakery that catered to the upper crust. I've barley been here a minute, but as soon as I caught a whiff of your breads and baked goods, I knew I'd batter come check this place out so I can give a good recommendation to my friend Graham when he gets here, it's the yeast I could do for a friend as good as he is."

The bird on her shoulder gave a disappointed trill and flew away. Fair, little birdie. Fair.

Graham frowned as he looked around, the trees around him only seeming to get denser and thicker, as he pulled Triumph to a halt. "I hate to say it, Triumph," he said with a frown, "but I think we might be lost. It's okay, though! At least the tournament doesn't start until tomorrow, so we've got plenty of time. I was just hoping to get there to see everyone, you know, make sure they're getting settled, maybe have enough time to go see the Fantastical Floating Island? Let me just take a moment to check the map."

Reaching into his cloak to root around for his map, Graham slipped off of Triumph...

...and straight into open air. Not realizing just how close to the cliff's edge he was, he immediately went tumbling down the steep mountainside, head over heels, again and again and again, bouncing off of rocks, scrambling through bushes, narrowly missing tree-trunk and scattering wildlife...except at least one time where the tree definitely got in his way, and, stunned by the impact, he fell to the side and continued tumbling again until, finally, he landed roughly on his bottom, blinked a little from the whole ordeal, and held out his hand to catch his cap as it came tumbling down. Fitting it back onto his head, he sighed, picked himself up, and looked up forlornly from where Triumph squeaked far above.

Then trotted confidently into the woods, and Graham sighed again, shaking his head. Triumph would stay the path up there, but there was no way he was getting back up to Triumph! "Well, then," he said to himself, "guess I'll take the low road..."

With that, he set off, guided by a sign that helpfully pointed the way, just a few more miles to the East. And as he started down the path, something caught his attention. It sounded like....marching? With a renewed sense of dread he couldn't quite explain rising up inside of him, Graham rushed forward, to where there was a ledge where a bridge seemed like it might have gone, and, across the river, he saw it. A procession. A promenade. A....PARADE?

"Hey!" Graham shouted from the other side of the river, bouncing up and down and waving his arms to get their attention. "Over here!"

But it was to no avail. The knights and their mounts kept marching forward, flanked by Daventry Guard, leaving him behind. "I could have sworn the Parade of Hopeful Knights was scheduled for the next day!" he opined. He should have been with them! Marching with Triumph!

It seemed his first few minutes in Daventry were off to a terrible start!

He started back down the road, deep in thought, then he heard his phone buzzing at him and, momentarily distracted, pulled it out to have a look.

"Oh! It's Arden!"

He frowned as he read it, sighed, and quickly typed out a response.

I know! I just saw it a bit ago! I've run into some trouble and I'm stuck on the other side of the river but I hope to figure something out soon!!

Did you get to see it too, then? The parade? I'm so upset I missed it! It wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow!!

Do you need some help? We can maybe run and get Professor Blackstone or something?

Or solve a bunch of tiny little puzzles in an almost Rube Goldbergian fashion that somehow ended with Graham getting across the river!

"Y'all," she said aloud, "Graham's not in the parade. He's stuck in the other side of the river."

Graham frowned at his phone a little, because, on the one hand, he really didn't want to miss out on anything poetant, and, on the other hand, this was his mistake and he felt he should make it right by his own efforts instead of putting anyone else out. But a good knight knew how to use his resources well, and everyone knew that friendship was the greatest resource of all!

For having missed the first event, it sure felt like he was already in the middle of a trial, indeed!

maybe, is what he ultimately concluded. we'll see if I can't figure something out. If not, I might need your help! But, in the meantime, you guys just enjoy the parade and maybe suss out my competition a little! Hopefully I'll be there soon!

"Far as I know," Irene replied, taking a long, sweeping look over the cozy, rustic, but indeed otherwise familiar if shrunken-down interior, before her gaze landed on Amaya once again. "I didn't hear otherwise, anyway."

It would be a real shame if one of those kids had ended up in, like, Coventry due to a lack of enunciation or something.

"I missed you, by the way," she added, playfully stepping closer now that she was fairly sure it seemed allowed, and snagging an arm around her waist. "It's been so boring."

She'd had to plan a bank robbery with Margo just to pass the time!

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Page 1 of 5

The Kingdom of Daventry; Monday [05/06] - Day ONE of the Tournament of Knights!

The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

The Bakery - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

The Magic Shop - ToK, Day 1 - O5/06.

The Parade of Hopeful Knights! - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

The Tournament Theater - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Evening in Daventry - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

OOC - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Parade of Hopeful Knights! - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

Re: The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Bakery - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Daventry Inn - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

Re: The Bakery - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Bakery - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Parade of Hopeful Knights! - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Parade of Hopeful Knights! - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Parade of Hopeful Knights! - ToK, Day 1 - 05/06.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.