For those who don't know, Ragnar and I are members of the SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronisms. We dress up in medieval outfits and hang out with other people who do stuff in medieval fashion. Ragnar is a Viking and does actual sword fighting in a full suit of actual armor (using very painful but not deadly rattan swords instead of sharp blades so no one will actually kill someone!). At any rate, we spent the weekend at an event held at the farm we've been staying at on the weekends where my llama, Lucy, is currently living. This event was called "Axeman."

This weekend, Ragnar placed second in the grand chivalric tournament. It was a very narrow finale. The one person he lost to had lost to no one, and the other player could not move Ragnar at all. Although Ragnar came in second, it was SO close, that he was awarded a second-place prize - which they pretty much NEVER do and had nothing planned for it. One of the knights donated a six-foot piece of rattan specifically to give to him for doing so damn well and losing so narrowly. With no other prize to give him, Baron Orlando instead gave Ragnar the official SCA epithet of "Ragnar the Wall" for being unmoveable in battle. Ragnar and I were very much pleasantly surprised, especially since he was badly hungover the whole time (in fact, it was a TWO DAY hangover...). Friday night, Ragnar drank SO MUCH that he puked into the bonfire. His vomit was SO alcoholic, that it immediately caught on fire and went up in flames. Basically, he drank several gallons of various kinds of alcohol, mostly wines, and then vomited 120 proof into the fire. Other than him getting really anti-social and sore afterward until he went to bed, it was a pretty good night, a damn good fight, and one hell of a hangover.

But that's not all! Not 30 minutes after being awarded a prize for second place in court, I convinced Ragnar to get up and sing a song he knew at the Bardic circle. He wasn't planning on singing and constantly says his voice is awful. No one wanted to participate, and there only ended up being six people who performed (Ragnar and I being two of them, and he sang with me because I didn't know the words to the song well). After everyone was done and no one else would come forward, the Baron and Baroness judged the performances. As it turns out, Ragnar WON Bardic. So now he is the official Bardic Champion of Skorragardr. He got a hand-painted scroll, a brand new cloak to be passed down to future champion bards, and a bag full of goodies including candy, an expensive period necklace, a phoenix egg-shaped jewelry box, several handmade glass beads, a bag of small fancy bells, and a few other small items. Since there wasn't a previous champion, the Baron put him in charge of running what little bardic practices there are in Skorragardr (Shawnee). Now he has to go to the practice every Sunday and start out the day with a bardic performance. He only knows like 3 songs. lol We'll be working on that, but it means we'll be EVEN BUSIER.

TL;DR: Ragnar is now officially to be know in the SCA as "Ragnar the Wall, Official Bard of Skorragardr."

But wait! There's more! ... Right after Bardic ended, Ragnar was invited by one of the leaders to join WolfStar, which is an exclusive bunch of fighters known for heavy drinking and heavy fighting (meaning being mostly Knights and some of the best fighters in chivalric, not that they get into random fights). So now, Ragnar has gone from some guy who shows up to fighter practice now and again to a well-known and respected fighter throughout the kingdom, the head bard of a canton he doesn't even live in, and soon to be a member of an elitist SCA household.