The "captain" was trying to outmaneuver or ram the opposing canoe. I think the idea was that victory here meant we had isolated the enemy canoe from the group, and could take its inhabitants captive at leisure (as part of the overall raiding group). Loss would mean that our canoe found itself surrounded by a dozen enemy, and would have no chance.
Meanwhile, the warriors were fighting. Loss here probably would have meant that the captain would be captured, since there'd be no defenders. We began with arrows.
After a couple rounds, the Narrator said our arrows were expended (since this had historically happened). So we closed, and of course could no longer use our bow abilities. The canoe captain was still doing the same thing, but the warriors switched to using new abilities (with different ratings) to attain the same goal.
>Does a victory in an extended contest exchange only
>give you a move toward resolution (RP or AP), or does it also give a
>mechanical advantage? (We now have higher ground, we have the backing
>of the court, you have been pantsed in the courtyard) Is it possible or
>desirable to have one and not the other, and if so does the system give
>any guidance for how that works?
Without knowing the circumstances, the rules don't provide for mechanical advantages. That's up to the story as described. And I'm pretty sure we had this come up last night, though I'm not remembering the detail. Situational modifiers are one possibility. Another is to constrain ability use -- your enemy used Disarming Strike, so for a round you can't use your Sword ability. (I think the enemy ability rating also changed when they had to switch from bow combat -- I believe the Narrator was guided by the pass/fail cycle, but not slavishly following it.)
-- David Dunham Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
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