Bordell's Tales, Chapter 1 : Two faces.

[Velmont]

You leave the bath and go back to your room to finish to dress yourself. Once that done, you go to the stable. The stables is a large building, build near the main gate, patly build inside the walls itself. You find numerous horses, many taken cares by kids, who are apprentice. The more experimented are taking care of the war steeds of the knights. You find Jeromy, the responsible of the stables, presently taking cares of Roderick's horse. You ask him to prepare the horses for tomorrow.

"Used equipment? Well, if Stone ask it, he must have a reason. Who I am to question him? I think I have what you'll need. I'll make sure they won't fail you. I must finish to take care of Roderick's horse first. I'll take care of that myself after. All should be ready tonight."

After that you go see Hanry, the tailor. You follow the wall, as Hanry's house is near it. his building is small and build on three floor. The first level is his workshop, where tissu of all kind are in demonstration, where half complete works lay on a table. You find him working a red vest with black and golden border. You asks him your request. "Hunting clothing? Are you going to hunt with Roderick tomorrow? I have two council members who ask me to have new vest for the hunt of tomorrow. And as usual, they need the best quality. I've never understood why you need to look at your best for hunting. No, think about it. The animals doesn't give a damn about what you wear. Even worst, one ask for a red vest. Red can be seen from very far. You are just a beacon telling them to flee. Peasant who hunt already catch that fact, and they wear generally rags, but rags that help you stay hidden in the bush... Well, looks like I will have to work during the night. What do you want exactly. I suggest something not too fancy to save me times."

 

[Jdvn1]

Xavier nods, "Yes, the red may seem silly at first, but it depends on the priorities of the travellers. I think we just need something strong, warm, and will blend with our surroundings. This doesn't have to be fancy at all, just practical. After all, we leave tomorrow morning." Assuming Hanry understands the request, Xavier wishes him speed, and leaves to find Kriegspire. <He might be still training?> Xavier goes to where Kyle pointed him towards earlier. At the very least, it was a place to start looking for Kriegspire.

 

[Velmont]

"Pratical? Nice! I have a few vest made for some of the followers. They always ask me to mend them. They have the habits to hide in bush with thorns. I have two extra here." Hanry stand up and walk to a dresser where he pull two vests. He then walk to a table were many cloth are lying. "And I think I have two or three more... yeah, here it is. They'll need some patch, but I think I'll be able to do some nice work and have some sleep. Don't fear, only a close inspection will show the meding. I will need to make two new for the hunter who use them, but they can wait. I doubt Sir Stone can. For the leggings, I have always some in stock. Workers, guards, hunters, they all use the same types. Strong and simple. There will be no problem. All should be done for tomorrow morning... I hope none of you have gain weight, or i'll need to take new measurement." he adds with a smile, taking a look at your belly.

After you've been sure the task will be done, you head back to the training ground. The training ground is an open area, about forty feet by almost two hundreds. The ground is made of hard-packed surface, as it is seldom use for joust training. most of the time, knights and squire or group of guard come here and practice there martial skills. When you arrive, a small group of archer are training on the western part of the training ground. On the eastern, two knights are tarining.

Among them, Kriegspire is showing to his squire how to fight in full plate mail. You stop a moment to take a look at it. The two warrior clumsy turn around each other, sword in hand. One finally decide to charge his opponent. The attacker miss, his sword being deflected by the armor. The defender trip his opponent. The fallen knight try to stand up, but the weight of the armor prevent him to do it easily. The defender attack with his sword, but the fallen knight roll to dodge. The standing one is trip by the manoeuvre and both kinghts take out there dagger. The swordplay transform into wresting, and both seems to try to open his enemy armor to stick the dagger in it. At one moment, Bellmon helms start to slide from his socket and Kriegspire put the dagger on his skin. You hear Kriegspire "You're dead.". The fight finish and both stands up, removing there helmets. "You'll see, most duel finish like that. Full Plate Mail are great protection, but you've got a great difficulty to move with it. So, once you are inside you're opponent guard, there is two choice left: Wrestling or breaking the fight. Many will choose the second, but after a few unsuccesfull attempt, you'll see it generally turn into wrestling. That's one reason why you always need a dagger at your side when in plate mail. You won't have this problem with lighter armor, like a breastplate or a chaishirt."

 

[Jdvn1]

Xavier walks up to the two of them, wasting no time in waiting for them to get up. He gets right to the point, "Leopol Stone needs to talk to both of you concerning an important mission from Roderick, in which we leave tomorrow. Horses, equipment, and clothing is being prepared for you as we speak. Details will be discussed over a meal in the northern private room. Are you two able to attend?"

Xavier pauses briefly at the two of them on the ground and slightly shakes his head. "I predict that this will not be an easy journey. Be as prepared as you can be. If you are on the ground, your opponent will not waste time of taking advantage of the situation. Just because you are in full plate does not mean he will be too."

 

[Velmont]

"I predict that this will not be an easy journey. Be as prepared as you can be. If you are on the ground, your opponent will not waste time of taking advantage of the situation. Just because you are in full plate does not mean he will be too."

Kriegspire doesn't seems to listen to you at first, and finish his lesson to his squire before he even start to give you attention.

"We will be there, Bordell." he finally answers, while he stands up"And I'll gives you one advice. Don't speak uselessly. Before giving some comments, be sure what the topic is. I was showing Bellmon how to fight in tournment. And in tournment, the vast majority fight in Full Plate Mail. Rare are the noble who fight in lighter armor. The favor the prestige of metal over the advantage of mobility. And the lesson was on that, duel in Full Plate Mail."

He helps Bellmon to get up and continue his lesson, taking no more care about you.

 

[Jdvn1]

Bordell smirks, and turns around to leave. <Will prestige win a tournament for you? What a useless lesson, fighting for sport. When you're surrounded by a dozen of them, you'll wish you hadn't wasted time on tournament fighting. Defense of our lands is a priority--how else do you rule?> Walking indoors, he looks around and imagines the halls being filled with enemies, running at him. Would any of them stop to duel? Of course not. It would be a travesty if he did not know how to defend the castle properly. One must be strong against his enemies, not against his allies.

"Hm, a clean body is a clean mind." Xavier continues walking, to clean his equipment. He didn't know what was coming, but he should get his equipment in order for whatever it was.

For the meal, Xavier attempts to arrive about five minutes early.

 

[Velmont]

You arrive at your room and you take out all you need to clean your equipment. While you are doing this, you notice that Leopol have already come in the room to change himself, so he should be now in the library. You start to clean and you finish and estimate that you still have an hour before the dinner, so you leave your room and start to wander. You enter the garden, where the smells of some exotic flower fill the air. A monk is silently walking in the alley. He seems meditating. You relax a bit and take advantage of the silence to think of what is coming, but you can't find anything more than you already know.

At a moment, the monk leave and walk toward the church tower. You guess he must be responsible to ring the bell for the dinner call, so you leave the garden and walk to the northen room of the knight's wing. You arrive as you hear the bell. You aren't surprise to see that no one is there yet. You sit down and wait. A few moments after that Kriegspire and Bellmon arrive and sits down. Some servant appear with plates. The meal is composed of roasted beef with vegeatables and a piece of bread and cheese. After a few minutes, Leopol havn't come yet. Kriegspire looks at Bellmon and you and says.

"Well, we should eat while it is hot. Leopol must be absorbed by something and havn't heard the bell."

He takes his knife and cut a piece of beef. He starts to eat. "Hmmm... not bad, the beef have been well spice today. Xavier, have you an idea of what Leopol wanted to talk about? I guess it must have a relation with yesterday messenger. He have done such a discreet entrance that gossip havn't even start."

 

[Jdvn1]

"I... didn't hear of any messenger." Xavier looks down at his plate and pushes some food around. "Something about a mission from Roderick, no doubt. Leopol seemed very absorbed by it. Something worse than the--"

He stops himself and looks at the servant who brought in the plates. "Excuse me, would you check on Leopol Stone? I think we need him in here. He may be in the library, studying some maps."

Xavier looks back at his food and takes a bite of meat with some bread. "Yes, this is good."

 

[Velmont]

"Yes, I'll go immediatly sir." says the servant, posing the plate in front of you, leaving quickly.

Bellmon listen silently. After a moment of hesitation, he asks to Kriegspire. "What messenger were you talking about, master?"

"A messenger have come and gone without the usual annoncement. He was disguised into some peasant who wanted to request something from his lord. The only thing, I don't know many peasant who can pay themselves sturdy riding boots of quality. And if a messenger is coming here without making himself known, that must one of Theor. Theodor have always been reluctant to ask for help." He takes another mouthful of meet before continuing. "I can suppose a lot of things, but Leopol will surely arrive soon, so we'll be fix at that moment."

 

[Jdvn1]

"Theodor, eh?" Xavier takes a bite of the vegetables. "Does he come by often for help? Must be bad. Those of the Order of Crian must always look to defend others."