The Gauntlet hasn't had an event ran in quite some time and with Duke Arn's passing Tesha had thought it would be good to remember her Uncle by doing another. So the Winter Gauntlet is in full swing, there are people already seated in the stands and some standing along the fighting ring to get a better view of the obstacle course. There are still men out in the back that are training, because sometimes people have to train instead of participate.

Tesha is standing near where she sits for judging and is getting all of the cards together for scoring. She's dressed in a high necked Aeterna gown that has crimson lace snowflakes that cascade down the back along with tiny buttons that fasten it. Her hair has been coiled up into a braid that halos her head, showing the scar at her temple quite prominently today.

The is a dragon chest not far from her with the lid open, there's shiny things inside to take! "Welcome." she greets those that pass her. "Please take a token of our appreciation." she states as she motions to the open dragon chest.

OOC: get 1-snowflake from pale dragon for getting your necklace!


Merek gets Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Adalyn gets Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Alarissa takes Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Alarissasnowflake

Merek has on his dark attire while he places his longcoat to the side while he finds a necklace. He then makes a way to the beginning place for the Gauntlet, bowing then also to Tesha!

Felicia gets Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Alarissa's come to watch the gauntlet, buried under a warm cloak that's bound to keep the Princess of Thrax warm where she sits. Long gone is the day of running it for fun, and she's content to sit and watch like she is known to, cheer on politely, those who attempt.

Alarissa has joined the East Spectator Seating.

Felicia can't help but make an appearance for the gauntlet, the redheaded Harrow dipping her head respectfully to Tesha with a glint of a smile. Though her sword rarely leaves her side, her usual steel has been left at home in favor of simple leather gear so prevent her movement from being hindered.

Adalyn strides into the area, an energetic bounce in her step. She has traded her usual armour for simpler garb, a blouse and snug-fitting trousers to allow for freedom of movement. She bows her head respectfully to Tesha as she passes, taking a necklace from the chest and admiring it for a brief moment - not that she knows much of jewelry! - before tucking it safely away.

Sir Bhandn opted for lurking, which is to say he'll arrive, offer courtesies to the Lady Telmar, and then stand off to one side with his arms folded and staring down at the ground with a frown on his lips, brows drawn together. His presence is a quiet one, today, even his courtesies to Tesha being a brief matter. He, too, left the armor elsewhere, for the sake of less hindered movements. It doesn't look like the aging knight has much interest in the necklaces, however; he remains consumed by his thoughts, barely paying a mind for his surroundings.


Tesha gives a look to those that enter, her storm blue eyes full of warmth as she stands near the judges booth. There's a dip of her head to Alarissa, "Your highness." she states with a smile. Then she's greeting others that come in, a wave is given to Felicia, "Dame Harrow." she nods to her. Then she gives a dip of her head to the others as well that greet her. "For those that are running if you could please form up over by the start point." she motions to obstacle course.


Merek settles about at the beginning point, then he nods to Tesha.

Felicia has joined the line.

Merek has joined the line.

Adalyn has joined the line.

Felicia makes her way over to the line with the others, offering a bright and toothy grin as she shakes out her hands and adjusts the pinning of her unruly hair to keep it out of her way during the run.

'Lady Tesha." Alarissa offers back out, a glance to look at those who are participating, night blue eyes settled on each one as if inwardly setting the odds for each.

Adalyn eagerly heads toward the starting line, flashing a grin toward the other competitors. She's a constant blur of motion, shifting weight from foot to foot, hopping about to warm up. Even so, there's a sort of focused anticipation in her gaze as she turns attention once more to Tesha.

Tesha checked wits + war at difficulty 15, rolling 25 higher.


Tesha gives a smile as people start to line up and there's a red flag that the woman waves, but what does that signal?! The first person off the blocks is Lord Maru Rivenshari, the older man looking like he's not really done this in a while, but he steels himself. That's until about halfway through the course when three armored Telmarines emerge from a large snowbank and pelt the Lord with snowballs. He finishes on shakey ground. "Alright, our next runner is Sir Merek." Tesha gives a smile to that.


Turn in line: Felicia

Bhandn will make his way to the starting point himself, still without a word. Now that the running is about to begin, he snaps out of it and directs his grey eyes toward the course. He remains quiet, arms still folded, but now with a hint of curiosity to his features in place of frowning at the earth.

If the Harrow has lost any of her form from when Felicia was among the King's Own, it doesn't show in the first section of the gauntlet. The bar and low hurdles. The wall she scrambles up like a monkey. The high hurdles end up causing her some problems towards the end of the run. She's determined that she's going to finish no matter what, but the color of her cheeks maybe only has a portion to do with the exertion itself.

Turn in line: Merek

Merek doesn't suck, at least not as much as he can, he doesn't succeed, but he doesn't do too roughly. He then makes his way through while he sighs, trying his best, it's slow, but he makes his way to the next obstacle.

Turn in line: Adalyn

When it's her turn, Adalyn uses all that pent-up energy to propel her forward through the course. But then those dreaded hurdles slow her down. She trips over the first of them, falling unceremoniously into a heap. She pops up, flashing a dazzling smile toward the crowd as she yells, "I'm okay!". The rest of her progress through the course is a mixed bag for her - some presenting major obstacles, others managed with dexterous ease.


There are so many people running today that it might start to blend together. Lady Teagan Blackram is a stand out though for her run, she lands hard on one of the obstacles and is walked off but the crowd claps for her. Other runners for the night are Rysen, Dominique, Aksel, Brianna, Marzio, Miranda, Eshra, Pharamond, Mirella, Corban, Sorrel, Kanean and Jeffeth.

Tesha watches everyone as they do their runs. Score keeping was something that was fine and sometimes it was easy to miss things, especially in the snow. Cora, her guard is also helping so she points a few things out as they converse through the runs.


The line has been dismissed by Tesha.

Alarissa claps, right hand to her thigh as each starts to make their runs through the gauntles, Lady Teagans getting a wide smile from the Princess Consort.

"Nice recovery." Felicia offers a little breathlessly to Adalyn when she makes it to the other end. There's applause for her fellow competitors, though a wince for Teagan when she goes down hard. The grimace given sympathetic.

Merek makes his way about, managing alright in a few places, but he's not making any wins. He then settles about when he finishes, sighing in thought also.

Bhandn's eyes remain locked on the Gauntlet during the runs of the others. There's no catcalls or callouts from him, he's content just to watch in silence while seeing how much of Arvum is in fighting form, though at Teagan's fall he does visibly wince and start forward before others beat him to helping the Lady Blackram off the field. Even when his own Grandmaster is on display, Bhandn just watches quietly.

Adalyn arrives at the finish and slows to a walk as she tries to catch her breath. She grins cheerily at Felicia and dips her head to her in response. "Thanks! You made that wall look like it was no obstacle at all!" As she watches the other competitors, she cheers and applauds their efforts with enthusiasm.

Felicia chuckles,"Yeh, but I tore my hands up on that bloody rope." she offers back with a chin in the direction of it with a shake of her head,"More time practicing that for me, I think." she offers wryly,"Been forever since I've seen you or your father... I hope you're both doing well?"


423Tesha gives a look to Cora after something is spoken and there's a quiet moment that she rises and goes to speak with Bhandn. Giving a smile as she does. After a moment she steps away and then gives a motion to the gauntlet. "Sir Bhandn is going to be running for us as well today." she announces.


At first, Bhandn's performance is fairly rote. He can handle the bar and the hurdles, but today he scrambles up the wall like a spider, surprising even himself with just how adroit he is in making it to the top. It's at the second set of logs that he finally starts to slow down, puffing heavily, but he manages the second batch of hurdles even better than he did the first. The rope at the end, though, is where it all finally grinds to a halt, his struggles and heavy breathing unmasked and on display for everyone to see. And when he finishes that climb, he collapses, breathing hard with sweat running down his face. He'll need a few to recover.

Adalyn shoots Felicia a knowing look, gingerly flexing her own hands with a grimace. "That rope and those hurdles are my downfalls," she remarks with a wrinkle of her nose, not looking too impressed with her own showing. "Guess I go faster when being pursued by dangerous animals and bandits. Natural motivation! We've been keeping busy, both of us, but things are good for House Clement. How about you? How've you been?" Her conversation with Felicia is punctuated pauses to loudly cheer for the other competitors. As Bhandn takes the last turn, she watches his progress and applauds goodnaturely.

Merek is overheard praising Tesha.


Tesha reseats herself next to Cora, the wild haired Knight giving her a nod as she does. Once Bhandn is done with his run there is some furious scoring going on and there's a look to the course before the woman whisper quietly to each other as they are nitpicking something. Tesha wanted to be fair on things!


Felicia laughs openly,"Well, one would hope so... here we just loose our dignity, failing under pursuit... well... at least it will sound impressive at the memorial." the Harrow chuckles and dips her head,"Good, good. Busy, also. As people have become more comfortable with the idea of Deathspeakers we've been being called on to reach out to the dead... and unfortunately Arvum does seem to provide a bounty to the Mother with concerning regularity."

Merek makes a way to place about listening to the winners announcing.


Tesha rises finally and gives a motion for attention, most of the soldiers quiet down and Cora stands beside her, "We're going to go ahead and announce the top three runs. And I would like to remind everyone that the scores will be available in the next few days to all that want to see them in a book for the scores." she states. "In third place, we have Sir Bhandn. Who gets three Rubicund Ingots." she smiles to him.


Felicia whistles sharply in approval for Bhadn and applauds him,"Nicely done!" she enthuses.

Merek is overheard praising Bhandn.

"Very true," Adalyn remarks to Felicia with a wide grin, though it turns into something more pensive. "Unfortunately so. It seems the numbers are endless these days." As Tesha rises to announce the winners, she turns full attention upon the woman, hands propped on her hips as she bounces on the balls of her feet, boundless energy needing somewhere to go. "Well run, Sir Bhandn!" she cheers to the third place winner.

For real? There's a definite look of surprise on Sir Bhandn's face over that announcement. He'd been fairly convinced the last obstacle had been his undoing, given his snail's pace from fatigue. Even now, he's still breathing heavily and can't manage to give out more than a bow in Tesha's direction.

Korka slips into the spectator stands with an ease of movement that says I'm not late, you just haven't noticed me until now. Pushing her long dark hair over one shoulder, she takes a seat and watches Tesha announce all the races she missed.


Tesha gives a soft smile to Bhandn, "Well ran, Sir Bhandn." she tells him as Cora hands over the Rubicund. Then she's looking back to the list of scores and there's a look up and around, "Our second place winner is Lady Miranda Rubino. Who gets four ingots of Rubicund and our first place winner is Sir Corban Telmar, who will receive five ingots of Rubicund. Sadly Lady Rubino and Sir Corban had to leave after their runs, but do send them your congratulations." she states as she applauds.


Felicia is overheard praising Tesha.

Felicia is overheard praising Corban.

Felicia is overheard praising Miranda.

Bhandn just now notices Korka, but the most he has to offer besides a moment of grey-eyed consideration is a brief nod. His arms don't want to cooperate very well with moving after that exertion (particular the end), but he's recovered enough he can offer a brief moment of deep-voiced thanks to Cora, and a bow to her and to Tesha.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Bhandn before departing.

"Well done, all," Adalyn calls out after cheering the winners. "And thank you for hosting Lady Tesha. An enjoyable event!" She dips her head politely to the other competitors nearby before pivoting on her heel, the hurdles cast a Look of Doom. If anyone is familiar with her competitive nature, they know she'll be practicing on those later.

Korka sticks two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly for the competitors, giving Bhandn a wink when he doesn't wave, "I see how it is," she calls out, "Fame goes to everyone's head so quickly."

Merek is overheard praising Miranda.

Merek is overheard praising Corban.

Adalyn is overheard praising Tesha.

Adalyn is overheard praising Miranda.

Adalyn is overheard praising Bhandn.

Adalyn is overheard praising Corban.

"More -- my lungs," Sir Bhandn manages to get out, calling over to Korka, his breathing interrupting those words midstream. But he'll also be raising one of those rubicund ingots to wiggle it in the air at her to go with that. "I didn't see /you/ out there."


Tesha gives a nod of greetings to Korka as she notices her and then there's a moment taken to look over the gathered and there's a smile, "Thank you all for attending the Winter Gauntlet for this year and remember to take one of the necklaces if you have not already gotten one." she smiles to that. She seems to be in high spirits despite the cold.


Merek offers up a little clap with a nod!

Korka gets Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Korka gets up from the seat she definitely did not just sit in and makes her way down to collect one of those necklaces, "You've outdone yourself as always, Lady Tesha. And no," she quirks a smile towards Bhandn, "You'll never see me out there. I've seen how many people fall over before the finish line. No thank you."

Bhandn gets Snowflake Necklace from a pale dragon chest.

Adalyn lifts a hand, fingers waggling in a wave of farewell to those she passes as she moves toward the exit with her usual energetic gait.


"I do try my best." Tesha gives a smile as she looks to Korka. Then she looks back to those that are there still, "It is growing colder and we have no more runs. Tea is on House Telmar at the Sleepless Knights to warm everyone up. Thank you all for coming out and for participating, we hope to see you all again in the Spring." she announces.


"That's a shame. I wonder if His Highness is persuasive on changing that." Is Bhandn joking, in how he says that to Korka? Maybe; he certainly is regaining something of humor in his features and voice both. "I might have to tell him a thing or two he doesn't know as payment, though."