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Dredigan

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The next day proved uneventful. The next night however... They came upon another valley from above so the could look down on it; and what they saw was nearly unbelievable. Figures moving through the darkness, steel glinting in their hands. From the size of them Meivar could tell that they weren't Humans. They definitely weren't Dwarves. But the extraordinary thing was that they seemed to move through the night without torches or fires as easy as if the sun was beating down on them from above.

The men began to stand to move back into the passes but one of them grunted. Meivar almost couldn't believe it happened but one of those people heard it and turned. Not three seconds later many and more had turned their heads. Then Meivar's world ended when they let out a terrible, ear shattering screech. He jumped up to his feet and with the rest of the men began to retreat back to the passes.

"Run!" he heard one man yell, and another yelled back "They're too fast!" his voice a loud whimper. Just as Meivar reached the entrance, before anybody else did, he heard a nasty fleshy noise and a scream. He turned to look and saw the silhouette of some man that must have stood seven feet tall holding a body up in the air that had been ripped into two halves. Gods be good, was all Meivar could think as the body fell to the floor and he saw more of the things scuttling up the cliffside to follow him. Ivon, Valtir and Henry all bumped into him as they ran in to the pass. Meivar followed them. Gods be good... Gods be good... Gods be good, ringing in his head the entire time.

14-Nov-2012 16:48:36 - Last edited on 21-Mar-2013 02:21:09 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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Chapter three: Guyard

The great hall of castle Ysmora had grown humid since the morning. The fires burning all day, the smell of fresh corpse making its way in from the courtyard and the rain outside not helping. As the courier in front of Guyard finished his letter he couldn't help but smile. Lord Luthor Roham had declared himself King of the Mountain Kingdoms, Guyard had been proclaimed Lord of Ysmora, the unshakable city. I've shaken it up pretty well , Guyard thought blissfully.

"My lord, you will be needing a sigil. And colors I think." Allurd the head steward mentioned when the courier left.

"I'll be using my ancestral colors, blue and red. The sigil won't be necessary just cut the banner in the middle and put one color on each side." Guyard said. He wanted to show that even though he was a separate lord now that he was still the son of Tolvar Valten.

"Very good my lord." Allurd said with a deep bow.

"I would also like to hold a council with Lord Worrick. I believe he still has several daughters in need of wedding, and I find myself lacking a wife. A lord must have heirs as well as any king." Guyard said and the steward nodded. "Now begone, I'd like to take the rest of the day for myself." and with that the stewards and scribes and peasants all left the hall, only the guards remained.

Guyard found himself looking up over his high seat at the white flag of Silmi, fluttering as gallant and arrogant as if it ruled the world. "I should like that taken down, Borthi." He said and his captain of guards nodded.

"Yes Lord Guyard, I'll have it removed immediately." And with that Borthi left as well.

14-Nov-2012 16:48:43 - Last edited on 21-Mar-2013 02:26:07 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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The next morning when Guyard awoke and came down to the main hall the Silmi banner had been removed. Two mornings after that it was replaced with a red and blue banner, fresh and fluttering.

"My lord, I'm afraid you'll have to admire your new banner later." Ser Borthi said, walking into the room in his full plate armor. His black beard was personified against the bright surface of his silver plated armor.

"What is it, Borthi?" Guyard asked, sinking down into his high seat.

"A letter, from Peldehall." Borthi said, holding out an unopened letter. Guyard snatched it, opened it and quickly read over it.

"King Luthor is coming." Guyard said, his eyes meeting Borthi's. They spent the next week preparing for the kings arrival, bringing in fresh meat and wines and sewing banners with the white sword of Roham upon it. The feast would have to be twice as lavish at least as the one Silmi had prepared for Guyard.

A fortnight later the king arrived in Ysmora, escorted by a grand contingent of knights clad in silvered armor shining in resplendence. His litter was two stories high with gold gilding on the sides and four great Destriers pulling it.

"I haven't seen anything so flamboyant since the last time I saw your brother Clydas, My lord." Borthi japed and Guyard couldn't help but smile at that.

Trumpets blared as the king exited his litter outside the city gates and mounted his beautiful brown stallion which carried him gracefully through the city. He tossed pennies to the commonfolk and waved at them as he passed. He is quite a king, Guyard reflected before climbing off the walls to greet him.

14-Nov-2012 16:48:54 - Last edited on 08-Dec-2012 03:46:09 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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The rusted gate screamed loudly as it opened to provide entry for the king. Guyard may have reacted to the noise if he did not need to seem regal in his majesty's presence, instead he simply dropped down to one knee, his fine blue pants soaking up melted snow. Guyard couldn't help but notice the differences between the king and himself. The king had long silvery hair and a trimmed yet long beard. He had grown fat in his old age and was anything but attractive. Guyard had short trimmed brown hair, no beard, and was strong jawed, wide shouldered and comely, especially to the people of the mountain kingdoms.

King Luthor slid down off of his horse and grunted when he felt the jolt of his legs hitting the ground. Then he walked through the falling snow, crunches could be heard from where he was stepping, and stood in front of Guyard. Guyard could hear the king's silvery armor click and scrape as he reached down and tapped his shoulder.

"Rise, Lord Valten." The king said. Guyard rose. "I am glad to see that the siege was successful." He looked around "And with minimal damage to the castle as well."

"Yes your grace. We lost nearly nobody, save a few archers who's luck was bad enough to place them in the castle walls during the fight." The king nodded, a half smile on his face.

"Would you be so kind as to escort me inside, Guyard. I have traveled long and hard and would like to rest." The king asked. His half smile seemed to return to the tired face of the old man he truly was.

"Of course your grace. Come with me." Guyard said, turning on his heels and walking toward the door at a slow pace to make sure his king could keep up.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:12 - Last edited on 18-Feb-2013 01:20:31 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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When they entered the castle Guyard noticed noticed the king looking at several of his serving women, rather lustily for that matter. He couldn't blame the king, he'd read once that people were attracted to what they could never have. Luthor Roham was old and not great to look at, many of the women serving him were as young as fifteen, or eighteen perhaps and they were very pretty for their age and station. It likely didn't help that Luthor's wife had died over twenty years ago and she'd only given him one son.

"You can take one or two with you if you like." Guyard said to him as they sat at the trestle table.

"I might take three or four." Luthor said with a cackling, rough laugh before coughing into one of the silk cloths that Guyard had had set out for them. It had honestly irritated him seeing the greenish phlegm left over on the silk a bit more than it should have. It was only because silk was quite expensive and Silmi had left the realm in worse condition than he'd found it in, Golden Eers were not very abundant in Ysmora.

It took the better part of two hours for the servants to actually begin serving food, by then of course the rest of the dinner party had arrived. Luthor had brought several renowned knights and generals with him for the occasion. Ser Tullen, General Marken, Ser Forse and Ser Tolvar. They were only the most renowned at the party, there were several men of less fame eating at the lower end of the table but they were generally there just to represent minor nobility.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:19 - Last edited on 18-Feb-2013 04:49:05 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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The first course served was a favorite of the king, quite uncommon among nobility in the mountain kingdoms but popular in the islands of the west. It was an elaborate dish of six different kinds of slow-cooked fish diced together in bowls and flavored with rare and exotic spices from the west. The kings favorite drink, aged spice-wine, came with it to wash it down. The king ate three bowls of it, Guyard himself was also quite indulgent though not so much as his liege. The only others who seemed to have a taste for the spices were General Marken and Ser Hadras of Sothgard, a lesser knight.

The second course appealed to most everybody at the table, roast boar was a common food among peasants and nobility alike, though much like at this feast the nobility usually ate it with much more splendor and spice than any of the smallfolk would ever be able to taste. Guyard didn't care for it though. He actually found it quite ironic that he'd liked the spiced food nobody else did but when they ate things everybody else liked he didn't care for it. Story of my life, Guyard thought as the food was placed in front of him.

By the sixth course Guyard had eaten more than he could handle for one day so he spent the rest of the feast drinking and making nice with the assembled knights. He was however displeased with how often he was compared to Clydas, his younger brother, and even to Kaen his youngest sibling. People are supposed to compare them to ME, not the other way around, Guyard thought every time the names were brought up. Clydas was a very famous knight in the Mainland, so popular that stories had gave way to rumors that he'd been all the way to the East, to the forbidden land of Esgurd and that he'd even killed a dragon once in his early days of knighthood.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:24 - Last edited on 18-Feb-2013 20:00:58 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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Kaen was a renowned soldier. He had endured many of the battles in the last years that had broken stronger, more experienced soldiers than even Guyard. He had even inspired a song, one in which he played the role of the monster that would get any children who ever disobeyed their mothers. A clichet, overused idea for a song in the Mainland but not in the Mountain Kingdoms.

By the end of the feast the king had fallen asleep in his chair and Guyard was ready to do the same. All of the knights evacuated the building, looking a bit less royal than when they had walked in, and the king was soon re-located to the royal suite of the castle. When the time finally came that Guyard could retreat to his own bed he made all haste to do so and didn't even remove his doublet before falling asleep, a good deal drunker than he had been in years.
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Chapter four: Robyk

Robyk had no clue that the king was on his way to Ysmora until he actually arrived. It seemed to him that he was not the only one left in the dark, the rest of the men patrolling the gates seemed just as alarmed at the sight of an armed host of men approaching the gates, and just as shocked to realize that they'd almost fired arrows at the king of the mountain kingdoms. When the king went inside the castle after a brief appearance the men all started an excited clamoring, yelling and laughing and conversing until Borthi came out to yell at all of them to return to their posts.

"You don't think he'll come out to see us do you?" Tolvar asked Robyk at one point while standing guard with him.

"Doubt it." Robyk said, loosing an arrow into the same beaten hay bail from the last time he stood guard. He missed the bulseye by no more than three inches.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:31 - Last edited on 18-Feb-2013 20:38:18 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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Robyk had spoken as little as he could and shown as little of himself as humanly possible. Every time he was forced to execute a prisoner it ate at him for a few days and a week ago he'd killed eight of them by Guyard's personal order, he didn't specify why they had to get rid of so many at once but now Robyk understood that it was because the king was coming and it would not look good on Guyard to execute prisoners while the king awaited his feast.

"Guyard needs to do something about the rationing problem. The scouts don't bring in enough food to feed the host and our stores are running out." Tolvar complained about an hour later.

"We'll probably be sent back to Peldehall with the king. Guyard took nearly all of his archers. Until then, here." Robyk said, aiming up in the air and shooting down a passing bird which, by luck, fell and smacked Tolvar square in the nose. For the first time since Ivon's party went out Robyk got to laugh.

That night Robyk shared a tent with two others. Scouts Remming and Ben. Both Mainlanders. They stayed up a bit after the sun had fully set, talking about what they'd do with their wages when they got home. Remming had his heart set on getting some good Roast Duck from Maggie, a courtesan back in Peldehall. Ben wanted to see Maggie as well, but for a very different reason.

"What is it you're gonna do Rob?" Ben asked him after a deep drink from his mead-filled wineskin.

"I'm gonna save it. Maybe buy something nice for my lady, she deserves a good necklace or bracelet after all I've put her through." Robyk told them before turning over and laying his head down. Neither of the scouts asked what he may have "Put her through" and were soon thereafter quiet as well, sleep taking hold of all of them like a vice; Robyk especially.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:37 - Last edited on 20-Feb-2013 03:47:42 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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Robyk awoke to the sound of horns. The tent flap was torn open where the other scouts had just scrambled over eachother to get outside. Robyk jumped out of bed, ignoring the aching joints that came with sleeping on the hard, frozen ground, quickly dressed himself in his boiled leather, grabbed his bow and ran out into the icy morning. The grass had received a shiny new coat of white, the sun was hidden behind a gray sheet of cloud and the men were rushing one way or another, weapons in hand.

"What's going on?" Robyk asked as Tolvar ran by. The blonde scout turned and yelled back

"A raid! The archers have been called to ranks!" Robyk didn't need any more convincing, he took to running to the castle with the other scouts. He bumped shoulders with knights and men at arms and peasants alike on his way up the steep hill to the castle overlooking the town. He was one of the last eight men to pass through the gate before it fell to the ground with a thud, locking out several more archers that had the misfortune of lagging behind.

"To the walls! To the walls!" Ser Borthi was crying out, shoving away a young boy, no older than sixteen, fumbling with his quiver. Rob didn't wait to be yelled at, he just moved to the gray stone steps and followed Tolvar up. At the top of the steps there was just enough room for the archers to stand and pull back their strings. After taking a good look around, Robyk saw them.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:43 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2013 03:31:34 by Dredigan

Dredigan

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They were men, moving in force though no banner represented the host. Not only that, but they moved with a tremendous sprint that inspired fear in the knights below. No doubt was in Rob's mind that the men would have began to rout if they weren't blocked off by the mountains stretching so closely around the city.

When the two armies clashed the knights fell before the might of the incoming attackers within two minutes, the blood could be seen from the walls along with the glinting of the steel and the sound of the enemy's battle-cry. A battle-cry so fierce that many of the archers had to drop their bows to cover their ears, Rob included. It wasn't long after the initial clash that the King, followed by Guyard came bursting out through the castle doors, both clad in full plate armor with their fine silver coats over them. The king wore a bright white cloak, Guyard was smarter though and never wore one into battle.

"What are you lazy sots waiting for!" the king called out through the snow, "Fire!".

"No!" Guyard yelled back at the king. "If you light the arrows we'll burn down the city! This isn't Peldehall our buildings are wood and sod, not stone!" All of the men knew that Guyard was strong willed but now he commanded the king to stand down and many of the men didn't know who to listen to. Rob decided not to waste time thinking about it however and just fired off arrows, not waiting for somebody to light them aflame. Robyk could tell that he hit one or two of the attackers but his arrows didn't seem to stop them and before long they were through the town and ascending the steep hill to the dark gray castle.

14-Nov-2012 16:49:52 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2013 20:56:00 by Dredigan

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The Heart of Darkness