Hanford 2005 Part1

Went straight from work to the Faire of Kings event in Hanford. This was the place where I joined the guild as a guest for the first time. After once again dressing in the company washroom and ignoring the startled looks of Co-workers as I headed out the door in my yellow linene . It was suprising short ride to Hanford and I came in just a little before noon.

My first action as a Galloglas actually came up as I entered the gate. After nearly being trampled at the gate by half a dozen women, I learned that one of our Ghillies (initiates) had gotten into some trouble in an incident some small woodland creatures that I won't relate here. He had attempted to escape the King's justice (the fool!) and had to be found and caught immediately. We managed to corner him in the middle of a crowd and bring before the Italian court, who declared that only the stocks and the cleansing of local water could suffice as punishment. *

Other Adventures of today:

* Fought Tigre Ui'Niall, my liege lord and employer. Got whomped on the head a few times (Now a legal target area which the new fencing masks), but nailed him a good shot on his hands when he thought he was safe.

* Having gotten the new masks to prevent injuries to ourselves, imagine our surprise when Rob managed to continue his tradition of being injured at every faire with a head wound while wearing the helmet. ArrggghhH!

* John, our nice guy and bard, actually leaped on an Englishman and attacked him rather than 'talk his way out'. Funnies thing that happened all faire.

* Some Scots hired the Lord of the Fews (Tigre) to help kidnap the Italian Ambassador. They got cold feet and ran away when the actual kidnapping took place! Now seeing as we were without an employer the Duchaine (Italian ambassador) made a counter offer. A bounty for each of our former employers brought to court for attempted kidnapping (no mention of our part of course). We caught the first two strolling about faire and the third one accidentally ran right into the court session. The first two repented and were rinsed clean but the third made the mistake of claiming to be a Lutheran. (the Italians and Irish were fightin wars against protestant neighbors in the 16th century). The poor lad made his error worse by claiming to be an O'Donnell...Ancient enemies of the Ui'Niall....

We settled for showing the crowd a forced baptizism. (we laughed about it later, but the crowd was surprised to find out that such things used to happen.) ironically, I am a Lutheran and a Calvinist. Of course at faire, I'm catholic....

* Got into an airsoft fight after faire. 'Nuff said

Today was a real blast and I look forward to tomorrow. There are three Ghillies (new members) becoming full members tomorrow, which mean they will be assigned tasks and challenges to prove their desire to join the guild. We are also discussing fighting the Enlish(wait, when are';nt we always discussing that?)

* (note: Hanford had some kind of contanmiation issue years ago and all their water has very high sulfur content...The Italians of course, prefer to douse people in this water than the water we all bring in from Fresno.....Leaving their victims with a unique "fire and brimstone" scent)