John Dallman
Hero
It's August of the year 875. The party is in Lundenwic ("London Port") which is around the mouth of the River Fleet, about a mile upstream of Roman Lundinium. Our mission for Alfred is to find out where the Great Heathen Army is, and where it plans to attack this summer.
We are Eadric, a Thegn from Wessex, Gunhild, a Danish woman warrior who serves in Alfred's bodyguard and might be considered a renegade by the Danes, and William, a skilled doctor from Winchester Minster. This is quite a low-point campaign; the characters were built on 120 points but strongly advised to keep 5 points in reserve for the "only a flesh wound" rule, and/or buying yourself out of a death (the GM used to run Honor & Intrigue).
We've just had lunch, on our first full day in the city. We spent the morning buying jewellery and furs for Gunhild in the market to raise her apparent status to 3, equal to Eadric. While doing that, she met a Danish furrier who knew her when she was a child in Jorvik (Danish-ruled York). He told her that her parents are alive, well, and prospering there; she has not seen them for over a decade (there's a lot of back-story there).
Our first priority was to settle on our story about why we are venturing into Danish-conquered territory. It is that Gunhild is considering marrying Eadric, and wants to take him to meet her parents in Jorvik. It had been going to be searching for her parents, but now she knows where they are, and that the furrier will likely reach Jorvik by sea before we do overland, it can be simplified. As an excuse for being off the direct route, Eadric wishes to look up distant (fictional) relatives in Lincoln.
With that settled, Gunhild set off for the Danish garrison, where we already knew Haesten Flokisson rules the city (and collects taxes) on behalf of Guthrum, a Danish leader who styles himself King of East Anglia. They are not being heavy-handed on the city, because it yields lots of tax revenue and they don't wish to spoil that. They have left the churches in operation, and allow people to come and go freely.
Gunhild arrives at the garrison to ask for news from the route to York up Ermine Street. The guards don't take her very seriously. They tell her that she will need to ask Haesten for news, and that he likes gifts, especially silver, pretty women (she isn't), and arm-wrestling.
Meanwhile, William writes a report on our travels so far, to be sent back to Winchester via a church messenger from the Bishop of London to the Bishop of Winchester. The Danes are almost all pagans, and the Anglo-Saxons Christians, so the church is quite willing to help; the party is staying in a house in the cathedral grounds.
Eadric goes out to gather rumours in the ale-houses. He doesn't learn much, except about the local brewers.
Gunhild decides to spend the afternoon talking to Danes in the ale-houses. In one of those, she tells a Danish warrior to leave the serving wench alone (he's trying to take her clothes off, against serious resistance, which is going a bit far). He gets annoyed by that, and after a little posturing, they go outside for a fight. He's Sigurd. He recites his ancestry and feats, drawing a crowd and his companions, Ulf and Revna, start taking bets. Gunhild and Sigurd agree on a fistfight without armour. She gets lucky and beats him.
He's greatly amused by this, and all three of those Danes invite Gunhild to drink with them. They are part of Haesten Flokisson's group at the garrison. She explains what she was after there, and they recommend bringing mead, or other sweet stuff, which Haesten likes. Haesten and some of his group were part of the Great Heathen Army until assigned here. Ulf, Revna and Sigurd came to Jorvik by ship from Denmark, then by ship to Lundenwic to join up. They’ve heard rumours the GHA is coming south, but there are also rumours of some of it going North, both groups starting at Jorvik.
Gunhild got mead, and went with them to the garrison as evening approached. There are about 50 warriors there, a couple of ship-loads. She is introduced to Haesten, who is is much entertained by her beating Sigurd, who is very fond of fighting. He tells her that one group of the GHA is heading north to Durham, under Halfdan. Guthrum is coming south, likely to get more of Mercia. He was nearly ready to leave when Haesten and company left Jorvik a few weeks ago.
Gunhild stays a while longer amd then returns to the cathedral close, loosing her coin-purse to a pickpocket on the way. He tells William everything that she can remember, and he writes an addendum to the report. The messenger has not left yet, so both parts will go together.
We consider if we've accomplished our mission, and we think not. This is only rumours - from good sources, but not solid information.
