I am bruised and scarred, but it was worth it.

This evening, my dear readers, I as at Governor Shang's mansion when I spied a crowd a sim over, in Loch Avie.

Grasping my statesman's stick, I made my way over to this crowd, where I saw Miss Laval and a few other individuals whom I did not know. Two of those individuals were gentlemen dressed in armour and wielding weapons. They were in a fenced-in area and battling each other fiercely.

Naturally, I was interested. I walked over to where the spectators were and watched the men furiously pummel each other. Previously, I had only been involved in dueling with pistols and parts of the war - along with the occasional archery event in medieval sims. Obviously, ranged firearms and arrows are quite different from melee fighting. The men fought against one another twice or more times, while the rest of us watched in rapt attention.

There were several more fights, involving spectators, including a couple with the Duchess Bellambi - then I decided to test my mettle against her. I had no armour, but I acquired the weaponry and went into the "arena" in the suit and attire seen in my previous picture from the gaslight.

We battled against one another; however, lag on my end sent me far, far off at one point, and I had to make my way back to the arena. That disorientated me, and I fear I was slain.

I later went against Mr. Exrex Somme. He was a formidable opponent, but I defeated him. Then, I fought against Miss Laval.

It seemed to go on forever. Blocking, thrusting, wounding, healing - we held our own against one another quite well, although in the end, I defeated her as well.

As Miss Laval notes, eating grass is not fun - but we all must do so one day. I did - though hopefully I won't again, haha!

After the battle with Miss Laval, I was truly worn out and made my way outside of the arena, strippe off my jacket and shirt and studied my wounds briefly - mostly consisting of scars across the front of my chest and a large bruise on my back. I relaxed for a brief while, before being contacted by Miss Whalen. I bid goodbye to everyone (at this point, no one was fighting) and went off to spend some time with her in a nice, warm ocean-like sim, floating and chatting until it was time for us to drag ourselves back to Caledon; me because I was exhausted, she because I had told her to get to bed as she had work to attend to the next day. I collapsed onto the bed next to her and subsequently passed out.

Does anyone have shots of me and anyone of my three opponents fighting in the arena? I would be very grateful if I could post a couple of them.