King Arthur Pendragon 485

The party attends their liege, Earl Roderick’s court. A special visitor is here to make an announcement from King Uther. Madoc, son of Uther(although a bastard son) comes and delivers this message. Spies have discovered a Saxon army that has invaded Sussex, a county not too far from Salisbury. Madoc says King Uther has called unto him to take action. Earl Roderick accepts King Uther's call to action and proceeds to gather knights to defend against the invading Saxons. Earl Roderick calls upon Sir Jimbo, Sir Arliduke, and Sir Herbius. They accept Earl Roderick's call to action graciously. A break is taken in court. The players listen to rumors within court. Finding out some stuff about Madoc, particularly his bastard status. Sir Arliduke oogles at some of the ladies within court. Sir Jimbo, wanting to join in on some of the politics going on talks to an important noble, Sir Berrick, but fails a courtesy check. He is insulted by the slick talking noble and ignored. Jimbo bites his tongue.

Jimbo, Arliduke, and Herbius go out to the stables and see Sir Elad, who promptly greets them. He seems proud of the knights. A proud knight comes strutting by and says that he hopes these new knights will be able to stand up to the difficulty of battle. He makes a snide remark about their failures in horsemanship training. He is Sir Jarren, a younger knight that seems to show a lot of promise, with a glory of 3,190 he is relatively known especially for his skill in swords. Sir Jimbo says a sly comment about his mother, but Sir Jarren walks off before he can hear it. Sir Elad introduces the Knights to their squires, acquired after a year of being a Knight. They are introduced to Bob, a 13 year old boy with a brown bowl-cut and a squishy looking face. His parents want to toughen him up. Sir Jimbo denies having Bob squire for him. Sir Arliduke claims him as his own. The other two squires come traveling down the road and meet their Knights. Gilbert is a stocky 15 year old with a shaved head, Sir Jimbo chooses him. Guy is a blonde soft looking 15 year old boy chosen by Sir Herbius. The knights travel to a village in Sussex and are assigned their commander. Sir Amig of Tilshead, an older knight with a noticeable limp and battle scars. He has a glory of 7,234. He has brought along 7 vassal knights. The band of knights set up camp atop a hill overviewing the impending battlefield. In the morning, the knights meet the Saxons in combat.

As the knights ride to the creek upon their horses, they see in front of them a field of Saxon foot soldiers. They decide to charge in. Sir Arliduke decides to flank their right side. Sir Jimbo rushes forward into their line. Sir Herbius flanks to the left. Sir Jimbo is promptly surrounded by Saxons, who take some damage. Sir Jimbo is attacked by all the Saxons, stabbing him with their spears until he is eventually thrown off his horse, due to a powerful blow. The Saxons attempt to stab the knight while he rolls in the mud, but they can't seem to hit him, until eventually one stabs him in the shoulder, slightly piercing his chainmail. Sir Arliduke finds a retreating Saxon and does battle with him. Sir Herbius, seeing Sir Jimbo surrounded and no longer on his horse, decides to rush in and save him. He rolls his Horsemanship and succeeds, riding his horse quickly, picking up Sir Jimbo from the neck of his chainmail. He pulls Sir Jimbo up on his horse before dropping him off someway away from the Saxons. Sir Jimbo calls upon his squire to give him his weapon, but his squire is dumbfounded at the amount of enemies and ignores his Knight's calls. Sir Arliduke slays the Saxon he was battling, slicing the unarmored opponent's chest.

Sir Jimbo calls upon Gilbert again who hears him this time, providing Sir Jimbo with a spear. Sir Arliduke closes the distance between him and his enemies. Sir Herbius does the same, rushing to the left side. He is met with three saxons. He kills one in a swing, narrowly missing the one of the other ones, which rushes in on his side and plunges his spear into Sir Herbius's side. Sir Herbius manages to stay upon his horse and attacks again, this time slicing the head off of one of them but again missing one of them. Sir Jimbo calls upon Gilbert to give him his horse, which Gilbert promptly does. Sir Arliduke closes the distance and is attacked by one of the Saxons, which knocks the sword out of his hand. Sir Arliduke begins to shield bash the Saxon to death. He manages to knock the Saxon unconscious. Sir Arliduke calls upon Bob for a new weapon. Bob throws the spear and Sir Arliduke catches it. He is attacked again, but manages to defend himself before counter attacking, stabbing the Saxon. Sir Jimbo moves closer to Sir Arliduke. Sir Jimbo is attacked by a Saxon closeby and stabbed in the side, this time piercing his already damaged chainmail and inflicting a wound. Sir Arliduke attacks the Saxon which attacked Sir Jimbo and kills him. Sir Jimbo attacks one of the few remaining Saxons close by and manages to kill him, stabbing him in his chest as he utters his last breath. Sir Herbius brings his sword down upon the last Saxon, critically injuring them. Sir Jimbo gets off his horse for a moment and finds his sword.

A seven foot tall Saxon dressed in mismatched armor from an English knight begins to approach the Knights. He's carrying a lance and riding a horse. Sir Herbius grabs his cage and sends his Falcon off to attack the Saxon's horse. The Saxon impales the bird before he screams a guttural scream, charging forward with his lance now outright. Sir Jimbo hops onto his horse, but is too late. The knight plunges the lance deep into Sir Jimbo, knocking him off the horse and rendering him unconscious. He orders Gilbert to go find Sir Adin, Gilbert promptly runs off. Sir Herbius moves beside the Saxon and begins to attack him with his sword. Sir Herbius and the Saxon exchange blows before eventually the Saxon pierces Sir Herbius's armor, stabbing him deeply and knocking him off his horse, which renders him unconscious. He lays in the mud. Sir Arliduke approaches the Saxon and begins to attack him with his sword. He attempts to pierce the thick armor the Saxon seems to wearing. The Saxon attempts to defend himself, but Sir Arliduke prevails, and after a several successful attacks, he manages to pierce the armor, spilling the Saxon's guts and finishing him off with a spear to the face. Sir Adin discovers the group and reveals that they've lost the creek and must retreat. The players recover over the months. Christmas Court is rather gloomy, which is no surprise, due to the loss at the Creek and a recent stalemate on an island nearby. The players decide not to get married. Herbius's sister, Brunhilda, marries Ber, a merchant. A vicious rumor has come out about Arliduke, claiming he may be a bastard. Jimbo's brother, Griff, unfortunately dies to the pox.