Session 008 — Player Synopsis
Forgot to paste in these:
481 – Session 1
HK seizes Ellen’s father’s lifetime feudal grants after his death (as usually happens).
HK has about 60 direct household knights including us based in Londinium. He can complement this with his vassals and retainers to assemble a more sizable force, up to at least a thousand swords. The HK is unique in that he has many direct vassal knights to call upon.
Cai’s lecture on hierarchy (summary)
- High Kings (King of Kings or Emperors) at the absolute top.
- Kings under them, can also be independent. 13 total in Britain at this time.
- Dukes under kings (“Petty” Kings comparable in power to dukes)
- Counts are lower than dukes (counts and earl is interchangeable as a title)
- The above are called “peerage” (royals may marry, interact etc.)
- Barons are not part of the peerage. Called “middle class”. Most Barons in this period are lifetime Barons like Ellen’s father; their holdings revert to the granting liege upon the holder’s death.
- Knights of all categories (mercenary, household, vassal) come in below barons in status. Even the most glorious Knight Commander tends to rank below a lofty Baron. It seems possible for noblemen to be dubbed knights and thus called “Sir”, e.g. Sir Ulfius, Duke of the Vale. They have martial rights and stand above:
- The lower classes — they have no rights of self-protection against the nobility (NB: do we?).
C sets out three quests.
The three quests
- HK wants us to accompany him to Lindsey, where he intends to coordinate with the duke of Lindsey re an attack against the Angles in Anglia. CHECK
- Roderick wants us to visit Lambor and “check out” the Duke of the March’s daughter. Lambor and surroundings called “the March”, because they border the Saxons. CHECK
- Merlin/Merdwyl wants us to kill a Wyvern. This time it’s personal! No one really knows where it’s from or where it nests. ONGOING
Merlin prep
Before setting out, Liam confers with the wizard about the Wyvern. As a result, Merlin gives us healing balms (who are we kidding, it’s boiled ox piss) and Liam a “Baahm” (bomb). He does not know much about Wyverns other than that they don’t associate with people a lot. It is obvious to Millicent that Merlin believes that we won’t survive, but figures that he wants us to find where it lairs. What a scamp.
North on the King’s Road
We ride north on the Kingsroad. Millicent seems a lot more alert in the field than in the feast hall. She catches a glimpse in a clearing of a small (merry?) band of men in the forest (on the western side of the Trent river).
We proceed towards and get to Lindsey — the HK has a marching in ceremony and meets the Duke of Lincoln. As their summit proceeds, we are dismissed on the same day and ride back the same way south towards Lambor Castle.
The Saxon camp near Newark
We note, to the east in the Lincoln forest south of Newark, about 20 armed men. We decide to check it out, Asterius and Liam argues to keep going. Drustin, flush with fresh knowledge on bandit-hunting, leads us into the forest with elfin grace. He manages to stalk the group back to their camp where he sees 20 Saxons camping in the forest. Among them is a giant of a man who easily outweighs a riding horse. His shield has a swirly blue-and-white design, Drustin recognizes that he would be the king of the Deira (a Saxon clan to the north of Lincoln), named Eosa “the Giant” Horsason.
Drustin slinks back quietly and reports.
We elect to ride back to Newark a small way north and meet the castellan, Rori of Newark. He is handsome, muscular and charming in every way that Beon finds contemptible. Beon finds himself strongly jealous of Rory. Others seem to find nothing wrong with the man. Rory agrees to take his men into the forest and help us assault the Saxon encampment. Beon comments silently that we probably don’t really need his help.
Battle with King Eosa
Millicent will lead the conroi, the others happily submit to her proven command. Drustin argues to be allowed back in to scout, which we all think is highly reckless. Perhaps even suicidal. Millicent tries to dissuade him, but does not order him back — she allows him to go should he wish.
He is motivated by an intense wish to see his companions safe from harm and enters the forest again, alone. He finds that the Saxons have killed a white stag, they are skinning it and celebrating their kill. They don’t notice him! He returns and shakily relays this information to Millicent, who orders us to proceed on foot immediately.
We are spotted before getting into position and King Eosa gains the iniatiative, rallying his men. He sends his spearmen to lock down Rori’s spearmen while engaging us himself. Besides being of massive stature (SIZ 21) he is known to be a religious knight of the Wodinic faith and strikes with unbridled fury, a terrifying foe indeed.
Eosa rushes ahead of his four ceorls, charging directly at Drustin. Liam attempts to taunt him off him, while Millicent orders Asterius and Beon to form up with her to stop the four ceorls following their King.
Drustin successfully defends himself as the King strikes. Liam shouts that the King should pick on a real man and to not pick on the children! The King is blinded by rage and goes against Liam, ignoring Drustin (implied to be the child, oh Liam). Beon calls out two ceorls attacking him for their dishonour in going 2–1. Drustin strikes the distracted King in the back but does not get through his armour.
Beon gets a glancing hit on one of the ceorls. Asterius beheads one ceorl, ignoring another altogether. Millicent decapitates the ceorl on the flank, there are only two remaining facing Beon. Liam gets his shield up as King Eosa brings up his man-sized axe, the hit is powerful enough to crack the bones in his shield arm. Beon masterfully counterstrikes his second attacker, wounding the cur.
Millicent moves against King Eosa, shouting loud insults. The King now facing three, Drustin gets a hit into a weak point of his armour and Millicent knocks him to the ground. Asterius dispatches another ceorl. Beonred disarms the remaining ceorl, but he is still up.
Liam attempts to convince the King to surrender, now that he is eye-level. The King replies that if we let him and his men leave they will cease hostilities, return home and pay a ransom. Millicent agrees to the terms in the interest of mercy.
The King rises, removes a big golden torque from his neck and hands it to her. He collects his men and retires. Huzzah.
Post battle, Liam attempts to tell Drustin that he didn’t really mean those comments — Drustin however had taken it to heart, his toxic masculinity hurt, and feels melancholic (failed passion). Pouting about toxic masculinity is considered glorious though!
Drustin attempts to put Liams wounded arm in a sling, it provides little relief (“pendragoned” the first aid roll).
We ride down to Lambor Castle.
Lambor feast (Rosalyn)
We are invited to a feast (1 round). A and M is seated closer to the salt. Duke Edaris (Adrius) of the Marche is hosting, with his daughter Rosalyn (who we were asked to investigate for Robert) as hostess. Sir Beefy himself is in attendance, seated perilously close to the young lady!
A appears popular tonight. M approaches the lady Rosalyn, courteously introducing herself. Rosalyn is very nice and in fact appears to have taken a shine to Millicent (M succeeding on an awareness roll).
Liam (of course) calls out to “put Drustin in the stag suit!” and the melancholic Drustin makes no protest as he is dressed up for the remainder of the feast. The attendants do appreciate his genial cooperation with the celebrations.
Liam finds out that the Duke has forbidden his daughter from going to the exchequer because she keeps giving alms to the poor.
Beonred asks directly why Beefy is here. Beefy is quite courteous and answers that he is here on a similar mission to ours for his lord the Baron of Chard. He helpfully lets Beon know that he might attempt to woo the lady himself, since she is quite good looking and the duke has no heirs.
A and Beefy proceed to sing off with the otherwise multi-talented Beefy fumbling the performance.
Millicent brings over a plate of her favorite food (cheese!?) to share with her companions.
Lady Rosalyn passes by Drustin the Stag and comments that he resembles a famous knight, it seems in earnest and not a jape.
Liam attempts to help Beefy compose a love poem for Rosalyn (Liam, himself having no love for Beefy, knows he is rather bad at poetry).
The magnanimous Sir Beefy feels a new friendship with Beon after their earlier chat and gives him a gift worth 1 £.
Asterius attempts to cheer up the sad Drustin by picking up on the Lady’s comments about him looking like a famous knight — but it comes across as mocking! Darn that smug accent.
Millicent tries to tell a story to the young lady, but notices that the Lady’s interest is not directed at her story, rather her great teeth.
(Summary: the young lady seems to be a bit homosexual and very generous — she comes with a sizable inheritance)
The duke would be happy to enter into marriage negotiations with Roderick, but he needs an answer by the end of the year.
Wyvern hunt + fairy road + wintering
We embark to hunt the Wyvern, going south from Lambor town by town to ask around. It had to be of note, a big flying lizard.
In Kineton the peasants report seeing a bear that stood on its hind legs while playing the flute. The still melancholic Drustin chides the ignorant peasants; that was not what we were asking!
At Bourton there was just a guy riding a pig.
At Cirencester, they reported that they saw a large flying lizard flying towards the Dean forest. We head in that direction and get to Gloucester, a large trade town. Last fall, they saw a flying lizard heading towards the forest to the north!
We buy bear traps and lures, as well as a goat.
We get to Hereford by the river. M bets A 10 denarii that the dragon is on the other side of the river, while he believes it to be near Caer Bannog. Apparently it headed northeast, and she pays up.
The villagers are in a low-intensity conflict with the “sheep-buggering” hillfolk (they might be keen on goats too!). Drustin seems disheartened by the prospect of encountering these amorous hillmen but is encouraged to proceed anyway.
Drustin leads us through the forest, ranting melancholically. We hear singing from many voices, we can’t tell any words. We close towards the singers, the singing suddenly stops.
Millicent notes that there has been a lot of rabbit traffic in the area. It looks almost like a road. We follow the rabbit road into a small, beautiful clearing. We look up into the trees and we can see small houses, hanging in all of the trees. Asterius and Millicent believe that these are fairy houses.
As Christians (NB: that other religions vary here) we know that fairies are fallen angels. There are two types of fallen angels. Lucifer led a host in open rebellion, that host was confined to hell for punishment. There was another group of angels who were neutral during the rising, they were cast from heaven for their lack of conviction (despicable neutrals!). This knowledge might be considered heretical but it is useful, as we know they can be highly variable and unpredictable in their behaviors. Interacting with them in the wrong way might be extremely hazardous.
We scan the ground, where there are a few miniature stables. Within them are rabbit droppings (the fairies probably use the rabbits as mounts). The trees form a ring, and we are in it.
A silently offers up M:s 10 denarii as an offering and attempts to back away slowly. Liam and Millicent follow, with Liam leaving some additional food offerings.
Beon thinks that faeries are 6 feet tall blondes, not whatever this is. It’s probably just some strange hermit that built this. He goes so far as to pick up one of their houses! After a collective gasp from the retiring trio, he (thankfully fumbles reckless) concedes that if we believe it, he’ll humor us and puts the house back.
After this, Drustin and Liam finally decide to join the rest and back out to where we came from.
We bumble around the forest a while (2 months!) until Liam manages to lead us out into Caer Bannog as the first snows fall.
We are welcomed into the modest house of the Lady Rachel and her brother Sir Ector, they ask why we are their and we tell them. They’ve seen no Wyvern themselves, but some of common folk noted a flying lizard heading northwest. Sir Ector recalls that there’s been talk of a “Wyvern of Idris”!
Since it is already winter it would be unwise to proceed, we are invited to stay until spring.
No bastards were made during our pleasant stay.