[Pendragon RP] 491 Adventure - "The Shattered Crown"

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[Pendragon RP] 491 Adventure - "The Shattered Crown"

Postby Cpt._Funkotron » Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:31 pm

Jagent, Spring of 491

"One land, one king! That is my peace, Cornwall!" says Uther Pendragon, holding aloft Excalibur. The golden hilt gleams unnaturally in the early evening light. At his back are four thousand troops arrayed in their battle lines, clutching their weapons and watching the parley in uneasy anticipation. At his side is the wizard Merlin. Across a narrow stream is the King's oldest rival, Duke Gorlois, a man ten years his senior, with a silver beard, wrinkled skin, and a firm resolve. His eyes, a distinct and uncommon cyan color, are locked with Uther's. Behind the duke are arrayed some two thousand men of his own, occupying the wooded high ground. King Uther has the numbers, but Duke Gorlois has the terrain. If a battle is joined, there will be a slaughter. There is a long silence as the two men stare each other down.

Finally, Gorlois shouts back "Lord Uther!...If I yield to the sword of power...what will you yield?!"

"Me yield?!" replies Uther indignantly. This prompts a terse sidebar with Merlin. The king then straightens his back and declares, reluctantly, "All the land from here to the sea shall be yours, to hold of the King!"

A tense pause hangs in the air as Gorlois considers the offer silently. The knights on either side eye each other, clutching their weapons and preparing for the worst. At last, the duke's reply rings out: "Done!"

Many present breathe a collective sigh of relief, and Merlin looks very pleased with himself.

"Come, sire!" says Gorlois, "To my camp, let us feast together!"

The two armies join their camps and settle down together to celebrate the new peace under the stars. Uther and Gorlois join their portable trestle tables together to form the only such eating surface at the feast, nearby the knights and infantry all picnic down on blankets or bare grass. Meat is roasted and wine is poured in great quantities. Some play dice, others sing songs.

This is not a proper feast in the minigame sense, you cannot draw cards and geniality doesn't matter. Roll Appearance to determine your placement. Each round you may either Indulge, Game, Gossip, or Flirt. Roll Appearance + Glory modifier to determine your placement at the impromptu feast.

Glory: +25 for witnessing Gorlois' submission.
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Re: [Pendragon RP] 491 Adventure - "The Shattered Crown"

Postby Cpt._Funkotron » Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:34 am

Notables Present at the Camp Feast (Near the Salt):
Sir Segaurant the Brown: a famous adventuring knight, one of the greatest warriors in the kingdom, traveling companion of Madoc, cousin of Baron Galehaut (who led a division in Soissons), brother of Sir Arnoullant the Fair. He is big and strong, with piercing dark eyes and a frenetic, almost crazed disposition. He colors his armor brown and wears a brown surcoat. He is bellicose and obsessive. He is sometimes known as "The Knight of the Dragon" for his ongoing intermittent pursuit of a dragon that spends half its time terrorizing various lands, and the other half evading Sir Segaurant. Seated near the salt.
Sir Arnoullant the Fair: Sir Segaurant's famously handsome and equally heroic younger brother and companion. Reckless, energetic, and chaste. Ladies swoon for him, but he is so far unattainable for them. Seated near the salt.
Mark: a sullen, dark-featured, paranoid lad of sixteen. He is the son an heir of King Idres of Cornwall, and is currently serving as the squire of Sir Meliodas, his cousin. He is a prince and technically outranks his cousin Meliodas, but as a squire must be seated below his knight. Will be seated near the salt.

Notables Below the Salt:
Derfel: an energetic and rambunctious boy of fourteen, nephew of Duke Corneus of Lindsey, squire to Prince Madoc. Will be seated below the salt.
Cador: a bashful and unassuming young man of nineteen, with pale skin, ginger hair, and gangly limbs, squire of Duke Gorlois and orphaned nephew of his wife Ygraine, thus part-faerie like her. Will be seated below the salt.


Round 1

Sir Miles, Sir Persidius, Sir Eliver, and Lady Adwen all spend their time gossiping. Miles gleans from context that Sir Arnoullant is considered very handsome. Persidius overhears talk from the high table which gives him the impression that Madoc and Golois have rather hit it off, Gorlois remarking that the prince reminds him a great deal of High King Ambrosius, who had been his dear friend. Sir Eliver overhears some knights remarking on how beautiful the Duchess of Cornwall is. Lady Adwen is reliably informed that Cornwall is to the west. Meanwhile, Sir Leiryn plays chess with Prince Mark to a stalemate, and Coelwulf flirts with his husband.

Round 2

Sir Leiryn learns from a royal guard that King Uther has tired of his mistress and set her aside. Sir Eliver and Sir Persidius play a game of tabula together to a stalemate, meanwhile Coelwulf does the same with Derfel of Lindsey. Lady Adwen and Prince Ban of Benoic exchange a lascivious glance across the feast.

Sir Miles engages Sir Seguraunt the Brown in conversation.

"How goes the hunt, Sir Segaurant!" asks Miles.
"Bah!" Seguraunt exclaims ruefully. "Last sighting, I spent nine weeks tracking that devil from Lonazep to Cameliard. Lost two good horses and my squire nearly died of flux. The bastard can't run and hide forever. As soon as I can follow it to its lair, vengeance shall be mine!" He slams his goblet down for emphasis, causing the wine to splatter around.
Sir Miles tuts sympathetically. "So what about its lair then? Is there no rumour of where it may be?"
"I've got some idea that it's no more southerly than Warwick and no more northerly than Doncaster, I can't be any more sure than that. The beast ranges out dozens of miles in a bound and no one knows when, or why, or where it will strike next. If it's anywhere, it'll be deep in some trackless wilderness, in no danger of being merely stumbled upon by chance. Its hoard is said to hold great riches, but none dare to seek it but I! But I care not for such baubles, only my revenge!" declares Seguraunt.
"Revenge?" says Miles.
"Aye" he says, gaining a thoughtful and faraway look in his eyes as he looks off into the middle distance, "Revenge. When I was a young lad, still only a squire, there was a shepherdess who tended the flocks on my father's estate, he name was Marged, and she was my own true love. I wanted to marry her once I had been made a knight, but one day...the dragon came to hunt upon the sheep. You could barely recognize what remained of her. I swore on that day that I would hunt the beast unto its death or unto mine, whichever Christ Jesus will deliver first!"
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Re: [Pendragon RP] 491 Adventure - "The Shattered Crown"

Postby Cpt._Funkotron » Sat May 01, 2021 9:18 pm

The next day, on the road north, Prince Ban of Benoic splits from his place in the marching order and falls back to the baggage train, where he approaches Lady Adwen and begins to exchange pleasantries with her. He is clearly flirting. After about ten minutes of flirtatious banter, the Prince bids the lady au revoir and rejoins the column.

The next day, the Prince once again splits off from the column and pays call to Adwen in the baggage train, bearing a bundle of flowers snatched up from a nearby field. The gesture catches Adwen off guard, politely thanking him as she takes the flowers.

Persidius narrows his eyes, "Nothing to worry about, indeed." He turns out of the column at a trot and goes to confront the knave. "You there, Sir," he calls as he approaches, "What is your intention toward my wife?"

“Intenshiawn, monsieur? To speak ze truth! To say zat ze shore is near ze sea, zat Gud is in eez ‘evawn, and to tell a lay-dee, in words and deeds, zat she is tre beautiful! But to tell you anuhzeh truth, mon ami, I do nut care for your tone. Do yiou knuh who am I?”
Adwen, sensing an impending problem, reaches out to rest her hand on Persidius' arm. "Now darling, no need to cause a fuss."
"I know you Sir, and at my lady's request I forgive your oversight. I will insist that you trouble her no more, however."
He looks past Persidius to Adwen directly, asking “Eez zis true madame, ‘ave I givawn mah lay-dee offawnse?”
She smiles softly, almost shyly. "My husband is simply looking out for me, good Sir."
He turns to Persidius with a smile. “You see monsieur, zat was not a yes to ze question. I am nut a beast, if ze lay-dee desires nut mah com-pa-nee, I shall depart. But if it is meer-ly your will zat I go, I should like to knuh how yiu will make me”.
Adwen stops herself from visibly face palming, instead keeping the smile on her face. "Good Sir, I would rather not be the cause of a scuffle, therefore, if you would excuse me..."
Prince Ban keeps his eyes on Persidius as Adwen goes, casually sizing him up with an air of amusement. “I would not seek a, how she says, a ‘scuffle’, monsieur, but Ban de Benoic never shrinks frum a challawnge”
"If you do not wish for trouble then I suggest you stop looking for it, Sir," Persidius says flatly.
“Come, come, monsieur. We are men of ze world, not page boys to threaten eachuzer zus. If yiu would challawnge me to a battle of arms, zen do so, if nut, zen be contawnt to face me in ze battle of ze heart. It is your choice, monsieur.”
"This is a waste of my time," Persi says mostly to himself then turns his horse away to rejoin the march.
Ban chuckles in French and does likewise.

The next day, Adwen is approached by a jongleur riding on a mule and holding a lute. He plays and sings a song that seems to have been written especially for Adwen, praising her beauty and extolling her virtue, for about a third of the baggage train to hear. When Eliver hears of this, he has a word with Miles. Leiryn, who would do anything for Adwen after the previous winter, joins them too. Thereafter, they keep a close eye out for either Prince Ban or the jongleur, and try their best to ensure that one of the three is keeping Adwen company whenever either of them approach her. Adwen, for her part, appreciates the assistance and interference, as doing her best to be polite without actually encouraging anything can be wearing.

"Good fellow, why not play 'The Miller's Daughter?'" snickers Miles to the Jongleur.
The jongleur rubs his fingers together in a 'pay me' gesture.
Miles pays the man.
The jongleur takes the money, shrugs, and plays the song. Very quickly many of the carters and drovers in the baggage train start singing along, as does Miles. Even Adwen gets in on it, although quietly, and blushing slightly. Encouraged by Miles’ example, some of the other knights begin following along, and the song begins working its way up the column of the army. It gets to the point that more or less the entire army is singing one bawdy song after another into the early evening. Sir Ulfius rides up to Uther to ask if anything should be done about the disorder, only to find Uther lending his own husky baritone to a lewd ditty.

That evening, as the army is setting down to camp, the Salisbury knights find themselves by chance pitching their tents adjacent to Prince Madoc and his entourage ( including Ban, Meliodas, Seguraunt, Arnoullant, Derfel, and Mark). The jongleur slumps from his mule and takes a long drought from a wine skin to wet his tired throat. “Eric! Heavens man, where’ve you been all day?” asks Madoc of the minstrel, who in turn gestures to Miles. When Madoc sees him, he smiles and calls out “Say what’s the idea, Wylye, trying to poach my bard?” in a teasing, goodnatured tone.
"Why, it was Prince Ban who sent him to entertain the Lady Adwen. Only he doesn't know her all that well, and he set him playing a song she wasn't fond of. She found Sir Miles' choices more amusing."
“Lady Adwen?...Isn’t that one of Persidius’ wives?” asks Madoc.
"His only wife, these days." replies Eliver.
At the mention of Persidius’ name, Prince Ban, who had been distracted by the fire, perks up and turns to look around. “Persidius? Where?”
“That man over there” says Madoc, pointing him out.
Zat man iz Persidius?” says Ban
“Ze same Persidius who zey call ze Leon d’Odon? Ze Cunquewawr du Caen? Ragnachar’s bane?”
"Yes, that's him." says Eliver.
Ban’s brow furrows intensely as his face cycles through astonishment and disbelief, before blooming into unbridled delight. He laughs from his belly and goes to embrace Persidius and kiss him on each cheek in the continental fashion.
Persi is at least familiar with the continental custom though he has never been on the receiving end and finds it odd. But not so odd that he will admit to it. "Sir Ban, you are a strange fellow. First you insult me and now you greet me like an old friend. Please explain."
“ I ‘ahve ‘eard your name, monsieur, but deed nut knuh zat yiu belunged to it! Faemoos are your exploits, I ‘ahve lung desired to make your acquaintawnce! Why deed you nut make yourself knun?”
"You will have to forgive me. My experience of late has made me suspicious and I simply assumed you were in league with one of my enemies and antagonizing me deliberately."
“Zink nuzing of it! Yiu see, when I saw ze lay-dee, who as yiu well knuh is tres beautiful, yet ‘as ze bear-eeng of a married woh-mawn, I zink to myself, what man could be worzee to ‘ahve claimed ‘er? But nue I see clear-lee, all iz made ubvious! I zink yiu should keep a closerr eye on ‘er, no? In my hoomlaund ze lay-dee would need a steek to drahv away ze admirers! But as for moi, mon ami, fear nut. I shall trifle wiz ‘er no lunger!”
Perai wonders if all Aquitainians are this odd and given this is their prince he suspects they might be.
"In Britain we take a dim view of those who make advances on married woman, so my sword is typically stick enough," he says with a chuckle to be clear he is good natured about it and not ominously foreshadowing anything.
“And to zink, I and you may ‘ahve come to such bloos! Zat would be a bout for ze jongleurs, I em sure!”
“Well,” says Madoc, in the middle of having his armor doffed, “now that we’re all friends, come sirs, let us join our camps. We all have stories fit for song, I’m sure. Let us share them by the fire, with a little wine I think!”

The Salisbury Knights and the Prince's Entourage camp together for the rest of the journey to Roestoc. They are properly introduced to Prince Meliodas of Lyonesse, a blond, cheery, abeit a bit dim, knight. One evening, Prince Ban relates the tale of poor King Sygarius; when his last stronghold fell, the Franks brought his wife, children, and relatives before him, and one by one slew them all before his eyes. They had planned to make a grand sacrifice of Sygarius himself, but on the eve of his death, a few of his supporters managed to rescue him. They say that now he wanders abroad with what few followers he has left, sometimes living as a mercenary, sometimes as a bandit, but vowing always to have revenge on those who abandoned him, wherever he finds them.
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Re: [Pendragon RP] 491 Adventure - "The Shattered Crown"

Postby Cpt._Funkotron » Fri May 07, 2021 7:50 am

After nine days northeast travel, through the lands of Summerland, Glevum, Wuerensis, Lambor, and Bedegraine, the thousand knights cross into the lands of Roestoc, a region which in later times would comprise south and west Yorkshire, encompassing the towns of Sheffield, Doncaster, and Leeds.
Uther's army arrives at the small Castletown of Leeds at around mid-day. The modest settlement is swarmed on every side by a disordered mass of tents and campfires; a city unto itself of some four thousand peasant men, hastily raised from their fields and sheepfolds to resist the imminent Saxon horde. Some have seen too many winters, some too few. Some have spears and shields, perhaps one in ten has an old helmet or collar of mail; many have only the clothes on their backs and whatever sharp and/or heavy implement was nearest at hand. These are no soldiers; but had Uther and his knights not arrived in time, they would be the only real hope of holding back an invasion. What scant few hundred real warriors King Elmet has are all crammed beneath the walls of the castle. As the knights of Logres pass through they are greeted with cheers of rejoicing, and “Hail King Uther! Long Live the Pendragon!” and all that.

The knights pass the camp by and encamp in the fields nearby. King Uther pitches his pavilion on a hilltop in sightline of the castle, and that evening couriers can be seen flying back and forth between the two monarchs like tennis balls.

Two days later, a ceremony his held on the hilltop overlooking the valley and the castletown. King Uther, with his barons around him and all his knights arrayed down and around on the slopes, stands beside a block of marble and the wizard Merlin. Beginning at the castle, King Elmet and his courtiers lead a procession up the hill on foot. Elmet is an old grandfatherly man with a kindly face, silver hair and beard, a hefty cloak of embroidered emerald wool around his shoulders, and a silver crown upon his balding head. He is flanked on each shoulder by a knight, one of them particularly tall and burly and carrying a battleax. Behind him is a remarkably beautiful young woman with auburn hair and a gown of robin egg blue trimmed with gold, flanked by a pair of maidservants, followed by a number of knights and ladies of Roestoc dressed in their best. Behind them are pipers, drummers, and singers, all producing a solemn melody that follows the old King and his court all the way to Uther's hill.
When King Elmet and the procession crest the top of the hill, the two parties merge into a circle around the marble block, and Elmet motions for the music to stop. He steps out into the clearing and removes the crown from his head, holding it up for all to see.

"This crown, which has weighted down on my head for two score and eleven years, weighted down the head of my father, and his father before him, and his father before him, back through countless generations. It is the true and ancient crown of Britgantium, though its bearers have not been the masters of all of that land for many years. It was wrought when the prophet Samuel first called Saul to reign in Judaea. It has been the birthright and solemn trust of my house, and of my people."
He then sets the crown down on the block.

"But, this is an island of many crowns; great is the prestige and honor of this my crown, but there are many more like it. And just as many petty, bickering, fools who wear them. It is written that no man can serve two masters, nor can a man have many heads, nor can our island suffer the vanity of many kings and their many crowns."
He then nods, and steps back. The burly knight who came with him from the castle steps forward, heaves up his battleax, and begins smashing the crown on the block of marble, ringing out almost musically over the assembly, until it has been shattered into pieces. Elmet then collects up the silver shards into his hands, and declares "The Kingdom of Roestoc is no more; the Land of Roestoc, and its People, are committed into the hands of the Pendragon". He then kneels before Uther, offering up the shards.
King Uther accepts them, and then places them into an outstretched cloth of velvet held by an attendant. He then produces a gold ring inlaid with ruby, and places it onto one of Elmet's fingers.
"Rise now, Sir Elmet, Right Honorable, Earl of Roestoc; the lands and her people are put into your care if you will hold them of the king and keep the king's peace" says Uther.
Elmet rises, and Sir Ulfius shouts out "One Land, One King!", which is quickly taken up by the assembly as a roaring chant.

+50 Glory for witnessing the Shattering of the Crown of Roestoc


The next day, there is report of a large Saxon host sighted near Tadcaster, to the north. The newly united army of Logres begins striking their camps and arraying themselves into the orders of battle. The following day, the two armies meet for battle near Tadcaster. There are many thousands of Saxons here, but not very many more than the Britons; either the rumors of the Great Horde were exaggerated, or this is but one small part of it. At seeing the knights arrayed against them, some of the Saxons can be seen to express confusion and a few can be seen to express worry.
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