Johan's Tavern
Rowdy Table #7

You sit down at Rowdy Table #7.

There are SCAdians sitting here telling stories about other SCAdians.

A tall, burly Viking fighter, travelling to an event, found himself becoming hungry.  
So he pulled over at a travel plaza, and went into a fast-food restaurant.  In garb.

When he reached the counter, the salesdroid asked nervously,
"Can I help you, sir?"

The fighter slammed his fists down on the counter and roared,
"MEAT!"

Frightened, the salesdroid squeaked, "What kind of meat, sir?"

The fighter frowned, scratched his head, pulled out a coin,
flipped it, and bellowed, "COOKED!"

It once came to pass that Ragnar the Unbathed and his companions made
ready to attend a tournament.  They loaded the wain with their gear,
donned their garb, and left.  Ragnar, the driver, was clad in a
leather vest, leather loincloth, leather boots, two sturdy swords,
and a helmet with one horn that curved up and one horn that curved
down.

Now, Ragnar's wain was pulled by fast horses, and he drove them hard,
and it soon came to pass that they heard the wail and saw the
flashing beacons of a Minion of Evil, who had marked their swift
passage and now signalled for them to stop.

And as the Ragnar struggled to remove his papers from the pouch at
his belt, the Minion of Evil beheld Ragnar's raiment, and thought it
passing strange to behold.  So the Minion of Evil ordered Ragnar to
debark slowly from his carriage and keep his hands in sight.

And Ragnar did so, and the Minion of Evil scrutinised the leather
vest, the leather loincloth, the leather boots, the helmet with one
horn curving up and one horn curving down, but most especially he
paid heed to the two sturdy swords hanging at Ragnar's side.

And the Minion of Evil said, "Okay, now I want you to take the sword
belt off real slow, you hear me?  And Ragnar obeyed, heedless of the
fact that his sword belt was what held up his loincloth.

At the sight of this, his companions were filled with mirth, and gave
voice to much laughter and catcalling, so that the Minion of Evil
banged on the side of the wagon and ordered everyone to exit.  And
when he saw that they were clad as Ragnar was, he shook his head in
amazement and told them not to wear swords in public, adding that
his fellow Minions of Evil would never believe him if he told this
story.

And as the Minion of Evil walked back to his own vehicle, Ragnar
showed that he was not the most intelligent of men, for he called
out, "Then you're not going to give me a speeding ticket, Officer?"

Guy in Viking garb goes into a Steak and Ale and gets a table.  He just
came from fighter practice and was pretty dusty.  While he sits brushing dirt
off and looking menacing, the staff pushes one of the younger waitresses out
to serve him.  In a small voice she asks, "what would you like?"  and he
yells, "MEAT!".  When she asks how he would like it he flips a coin and yells
"COOKED!".

A man in Chicago (so the story goes) was on his way back from fighter
practice and decided to take the subway.  He had thrown a jacket on over his
tunic and breastplate but was too tired to remove them.  While he was
stretched out on the seat with his eyes closed, a mugger came up and
threatened him with a knife and demanded money.  He opened his eyes and said
"Go Away.." and started rumaging in his duffle bag for a piece of ratan.  The
mugger went to stab him and the knife blade broke on the armor.  While the
mugger looks down at the broken knife, the only thing that comes to hand is a
gauntlet, which the fighter used to backhand his assailant.  The assailant
then ran off.

Duke John the Bearkiller, his lady and two others (his current warlord and
his lady) went barhopping in garb in Atlanta after a revel.  While walking
they realized they were being followed and tried to elude their pursuers,
resulting in their turning upa blind alley.  When they turned, the pursuers
were still there and drew knives, which of course Bearkiller and companions
matched with knives several times as long.  The would be attackers left
quickly. 

A little girl in grade school in Meridies was asked to tell what her
parents did.  She responded, "They're the King and Queen".  The child was
chided for making up stories but she would not recant.  Soon thereafter, the
school received a visit from the parents in full SCA garb, who explained the
situation.    Aside:  I do remember someone telling me that they looked into
the veracity of this story and did have it confimed with names and dates but
I have no recollection of who I was speaking to at the time.

A young man named Duncan was standing next to Elspeth (while she was Queen
the first time I believe).  Moments after sticking his claymore in the ground
he heard Elspeth say "Take the sword out of my foot".  He had pinned he to the
ground.  This same Duncan is now a Laurel....  Check with Damien or Elspeth on
the details as I am a bit fuzzy on this one.

Contrary to popular belief, Duncan did not put his sword through
Elspeth's foot (exactly).  He actually clipped her foot fairly badly, but the
rest of the story stands as read (per her husband).

Master Justin of Kent (who is mundanely a cetholic priest) once got
annoyed with the rain at Wewa and stepped out from under a merchant's canopy,
spead his arms and spoke commandingly "STOP!", and it did.  He looked sheepish
for a second and ducked back under the tent, and was followed by laughter and
scattered applause. 

Master Ragnar of Wyvernwood was in a minor car accident in Tampa on the
way too an event.  The person who hit him got mad an went to his car to get a
tire iron.  Ragnar grabbed a sword and chased him off.

The Triskele cloud incident-  
At the Coronation of Arloff and Hilary, they had planned an elaborate
coronation at Keystone, with them riding up on horseback.  They had scripted
the lines carefully since he was an acting student, and they had the whole
affair planned to the Nth degree.  Just as they were riding up and he was
opening his mouth to deliver his line, someone pointed into the sky and
shouted, "Look, a Triskele!".  We all looked, and for a few seconds there
really was a triskele shaped cloud hanging over the assembly.  It broke up
before anyone had a chance to take a photo.  The only pictures I have seen are
smudged anyway.  It ruined the King's big entrance completely, but it did earn
a place in our folklore and was on the back of talewinds for a while.

The story where Castlemere marched on Meridies and claimed the "Trimaris Strip" at a Demo?  
Later the guys renamed the towns on the way back from a war in Atlantia 
(Shaka Ed can tell you more about that.)  
We gave it to Baldar in court.  We sent a letter to the Crown of
Meridies in Latin (as everyone on the throne would presume to find a priest
to read), but he never replied.  Found out it was about 8 years later
before anyone could read it to them.  The area even petitioned to
officially join Trimaris, but was refused.

There's a story circulating around here of a Scadian who was 
traveling across the border to go to an event somewhere north of 
Michigan. He stopped at a very small border outpost on what was 
essentially a back road to Canada, and the Canadian Customs offical asked 
him the usual questions...Who are you, where are you from, where are you 
going, why, do you have any weapons... 
At that point, the young man looked thoughtful...and thought 
about his rattan polearm and sword, his dress sword and two boot knives, 
his eating dagger, his fencing gear, and his archery equipment. He 
looked at the customs guy and said, "define 'weapon'." 
It was a long day.