Nine fighters showed up on Friday, October 18th to participate in Diamond Quest XCIX:
1. Gren Blockman
2. Rachael Blackthorne
3. Jewell Ravenlock
4. Penny Escobar
5. Kheldar
6. Nayun
7. Matt Simon
8. Eden Parker
9. Hope Naharis
In Round 1, Gren sat around sipping Broots while Eden Parker sent Hope Naharis to the loser bracket while Matt Simon did the same to Rachael Blackthorne with two 5-4 in 10 round matches. Veteran Outback fighter Kheldar was matched against Penny Escobar, current holder of MoonBeryle, sending her to the losers bracket with a 5-3 win. In the final ring, Nayun sent Jewell to the losers bracket with a 5-3 win, which seemed to predict (falsely) a short night for The Empress.
In Round 2, Kheldar sat around with the bye while fellow teammates Gren and Eden battled it out with Eden sending Gren to the losers bracket with a 5-3 win. In the other winners match, Nayun continued her run with a resounding 5-2 defeat of Matt. Over in the losers bracket, Rachael sent three-time Diamond Hope home early, but she was in good company as Jewell sent Penny packing as well after hitting her with a nasty uppercut earlier in the fight. It should also be noted that something weird happened right at the start of Round 2. The lights flickered and the different Opals present in the Outback went a bit wonky!
Round 3 saw Nayun with the bye and Eden sending
another teammate to the losers bracket: Kheldar! In the losers bracket, Matt sent Gren home with a close 5-4 win in 9 rounds while Jewell did the same to Rachael after securing a two-point lead in round 6 with a spinkick.
Nayun continued her winning streak in Round 4 by defeating Eden, sending her to the losers bracket and being declared the
Winner of the Winners Bracket for the evening. The fighting was still heavy over in the losers bracket where Jewell sat around with the bye and let the old timers battle it out. In the end, Matt sent Kheld home with a 5-2 win.
Matt got a brief break in Round 5 as teammates Jewell and Eden fought to see who would face him in the losers bracket semifinals. Eden seemed a bit tired and less perky than usual, so Jewell sent her home to rest with a 5-2 win.
The semi-finals of the losers bracket took place in Round 6. Jewell faced off against Matt who ruined her chances of winning the Diamond Quest last Fall. Jewell had the upper hand tonight though, ruining Matt’s early lead and then eliminating him with a 5-3 win in 6 rounds, naming herself
Winner of the Losers Bracket.
Unfortunately, battling her way through the losers bracket meant Jewell faced Nayun in the finals. This was reminiscent of Jewell’s first WLT win where Melanie had sent her to the losers bracket in Round 1 and Jewell fought her way back to defeat her twice to take the title. Tonight was no different. Nayun had soundly defeated Jewell in Round 1 of the Quest, but she had more trouble against the faerie in the finals. The first match of the finals saw them go 5-3 in 10 rounds after Jewell tied things up in round 4 with an uppercut before going on to win. This resulted in a second finals match to determine the winner. In the last match of the evening, Jewell went untouched for 6 rounds, defeating Nayun 5-0 to win the quest.
At the end of the night, Jewell Ravenlock became the winner of Diamond Quest XCIX!
Nayun didn’t go home empty handed though, receiving a diamond and ice statue thing that may be possessed
or it may tell her fortune!
All the other participants and spectators received a set of diamond shaped soaps.
