Session 015 — Player Synopsis — York Road / Sherwood Ambush
Linked chronicle page: Session 015 - The Road to York and the Ambush in Sherwood
York falls; Malahaut asks Uther
Envoy from Eboracum/York reports it fell to Saxons last autumn. Malahaut asking Logres/Uther for aid is unprecedented.
Madoc joins the conroi
Prince Sir Madoc joins and asks Millicent to teach him war. Route: Sarum → Cirencester → Lambor → Lincoln → York. Uther’s main army assembles at Silchester; Cornwall marches separately north.
Suspicion & “holing”
- Drustin asks about dispositions; Bruce (moustachioed analyst) detains him as suspected Silchestrian spy.
- Liam is also detained.
- Geraint sees black-armored officials with pointy hats and hooked polearms throwing peasants into a pit (“holing”) as alleged Silchester agents.
- Millicent storms in with sword drawn; the pit contains commoners and the missing Drustin/Liam.
Bath scriptorium
At Bath, they consult fortifications plans of York; walls are formidable.
- Potential weakness: a drain where the River Foss runs through the wall (York rivers: Ouse + Foss).
Drimant and the Black Dog
Millicent spots a blue-robed bard/chronicler: Drimant (trained by Ladies of the Lake; neutral observer).
- Warns of a great Black Dog on northern moors (face of a man; bark foretells death).
- Suggests a ritual may have strengthened York’s walls.
- Liam tells Drimant the ruby bargain story; Drimant suspects a demon bargain and advises recovering/returning rubies.
Sherwood ambush (Triamors + Ælflaed)
In Sherwood, Lady Triamors is found bound backwards on a donkey with an apple in her mouth; she screams “AMBUSH!”
Saxons attack: 4 huscarls + a stunning Saxon princess Ælflaed.
- Millicent and Assterius are briefly bewitched by Ælflaed’s beauty.
- Drimant vanishes and reappears behind Ælflaed, bopping her unconscious with a sprig while chanting.
- Millicent is nearly killed by a huscarl; Madoc rushes to defend her.
- Geraint decapitates the offending huscarl.
- One huscarl surrenders, begs mercy.
Interrogation: the “Saxons” claim they were attacked earlier by warriors with yellow and red shields (possibly near St. Albans / Essex) and were trying to steal horses to survive.
Lincoln under siege
They reach Lincoln and find it under siege by the Angles.