Duke Timothy has become a problem.

All of the fighters know it. The MoLs know it. The Crown knows it. Even the Duke, himself knows it.

Timothy just keeps winning too many tourneys.

His Grace recognized the problem several years ago, and decided to reduce the size of his shield. When that wasn’t enough, he reduced it further until it was barely the size of a buckler. But he still kept on winning.

“It’s been pretty frustrating,” said Earl Arnthor, who stepped down from the throne today. “You train and train, and you think you’ve got a good chance of beating him, but then he throws that snapshot and the next thing you know you’re lying on the ground trying to remember which way is up.”

Sir Thorsol agreed. “I thought for sure that heart attack would slow him down, but no, he just came out and beat the snot out of everyone at Ice Dragon last weekend.”

Duchess Gabrielle has declined to comment, but some of Duke Timothy’s squires have come up with an ingenious new method to slow him down. Baron Friderich Swartzwalder explained, “At first, we thought maybe we could tie one of his arms behind his back, but that was too obvious. Instead, we decided that we’re going to tie his legs together right before each tourney. It’s an old technique used with horses, called hobbling. We’re hoping that will create a more level playing field in the heavy fighting community.”

Duke Byron disagreed. “I just don’t see it. He can kill me just as well standing still as he can moving around.”

A taskforce is brainstorming alternate solutions and is expected to finalize a plan prior to Crown Tourney in Sylvan Glen on May 6.