Reminder to self: Never bet against a woman.

Hmm…well, that is not exactly a fair estimation. Never wager against Sreip.

I must admit it that it must have seemed like a dangerous proposition on the surface; but I have never met a more honorable and trustworthy warrior than the leader of the Clan of the Shrouded Bunnies. Often we trust our comrades in arms with our lives – knowing that the Great Cory grants redemption to those that pass through his plane having died in the noble pursuit of battling the evil that plagues the land. However, when Sreip and I agreed to this mutual challenge of speed and skill – we were trusting each other with something that cannot be restored at the nearest Life Monument and even the gods do not interfere in; our reputations. Each of us staked the respect of our friends and fellow adventurers on the forfeit, to see who could fight through hoards of beasts and have the World Crier announce their advancement and victory. The winner would set a forfeit of their choosing for the other (within the Laws of the Land, of course). A potentially high price to pay… and this is certainly not something I would have undertaken with just anyone. In fact, Sreip is one a very few individuals I trust enough to place such a wager with.

Yet, I am writing this to caution my future self. Why? Well, because I lost. She beat me fairly and not by much – but she has proven her blade is swifter than mine. It was the hardest fought 4 marcs of my life. Never have I chased down the beasts with such aggression – fighting almost blindly and exhausted by the end. Each of us started with only a quarter of our training remaining to accomplish, so we were on relatively even ground (differences in training levels no with standing, we each went to our chosen training areas). There were no blessings or enchantments allowed and we had enough potions to make it through without any worries of needing to pause for restocking. We had just begun the battling when Sreip realized we had forgotten to equalize the trip back to the Trainer, but luckily Topaz was nearby and provided me with a teleport scroll to Dundee to match one that Sreip had. Then the battle began anew and neither of us stopped swinging until the goal was met –
And I heard the words signaling my defeat:
“Sreip Enudreklaw has advanced in power and skill!”

I wonder if the World Crier realized the significance of that particular announcement. Probably not and most likely could care less – as such affairs between warriors interest few others.

We met at the trainer – and managed to coax our exhausted legs to carry us to Dundee Inn where we had a refreshing drink to celebrate the spirit of the competition and Sreip’s well earned, hard fought victory. Never have I been so honored in a defeat. It was an unquestionably fair competition and extremely close. It felt good to train so hard – I don’t think I have bent myself to training in such a way in a very long time. Its important to push your own limits from time to time, or in our case, have friends willing to help push you a little bit further. It wasn’t long before the adrenaline subsided and our blood had cooled that we each went out separate ways to rest… I slept for a very long time.
It was days before Sreip and I met again for her to name her forfeit for me. Everyone was quite expecting it to be something… unsavory. Topaz even cautioned me about agreeing to a forfeit that wasn’t named before hand and worried that an Iron Knight would be exposed to ridicule. Justly, I should say, if it had been anyone other than Sreip it would have been a dangerous endeavor as I mentioned before. However, I knew Sreip would take no satisfaction in sullying my personal or professional reputation or doing any sort of harm to my honor… as I would never do anything of the sort to her either. Her chosen forfeit was well thought out and fitting. She chose accompany me on my training. If anyone mistakes Sreip’s simple, straight forward manner of speaking for a lack of intelligence they are sadly and sorely mistaken. I wish I had been given the opportunity to gain from another’s experience in such a way. I might have gone into many of my battles with a much better strategy and suffered embarrassing defeat far less.

Its hard to describe the admiration and deep respect I have for her. I say never wager against Sreip – its mostly because you are almost assured to lose, but if I am ever to set such another wager... I would gladly do so again with Sreip.