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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Kendrik" data-source="post: 1195" data-attributes="member: 123">Well after the dramas of the BB behind us here is the next exciting instalment of the Life and times of Sir Kendrik and the Axbridge Crew.When we last left our intrepid heroes Sir Kendrik had been right royally put in his place by his Lord, Baron Aldred. If not for the intercession of his beloved Lady Elanor, he would have been stripped of his Knighthood for his dishonourable conduct. In place of this he had to pay 2000 Gold Marks to Lady Elanor’s dowry and Lady Elanor was now open to seeing other suitors. Sir Kendrik was now deeply depressed; he was now of the impression that he had no honour, the most important thing to a Knight of The Realm and he thought he was not allowed to see Elanor.Now to this weeks adventure.Solday 29 Fieldtoiling 1353We open the scene with Callin Toper, the party’s principle rogue, about to finish his all night watch on the keep battlements. During the night from his vantage point on the battlements Callin had been watching workers eagerly putting up stands and poles and the like in Clyster common. A soldier came to relieve him of his post and a chat ensued. Callin asked him what the building was all about on the common. The soldier quickly filled him in and said that it was stands and flagpoles for the Greening Day tourney, as he said that he passed a flyer to Callin. On the flyer was all the information on the upcoming tourney. Callin noticed that there was to be an archery competition as well. Callin moved to the kitchen for breakfast and was soon joined by Sir Kendrik fresh from morning church service. Sir Kendrik collected a big plate of hot food and sat down next to his best friend. Sir Kendrik asked Callin what was the flyer in his hand about. Callin passed it to him and Sir Kendrik proceeded to read it, his eyes lighting up at what he read. He had long dreamed of entering a tourney, especially the joust and here was his chance. Sir Kendrik had thought that he would have to go to the capital to enter one and this opportunity was a dream come true. Maybe he could do well and get some of his lost honour back. He was keen to enter everything he could, then he realised he would have to get new weapons and armour as he currents ones were all magical. Cain then arrived and Sir Kendrik asked the two rogues to search the town blacksmiths for a suit of jousting armour and a masterwork longsword and large shield that could be ready in 2 days! Sir Kendrik told them o meet him at lunch with their results as he quickly ate his break fast and headed for the Harper hall.Callin who hadn’t slept went to the barracks for a couple hours sleep before heading to the blacksmiths. Cain on the other hand stopped by the wizards tower to visit Wynn Tyr for his daily lessons. Wynn Tyr himself had been ordered by Master Arturo to collect some stores from Wonagan the Apothecary and to get a spell book together for Cain. They headed off there and chatted with Wonagan who told him that he could supply everything in an hour except for some opal dust which he was clean out of. That special order would take some weeks to meet.Off in the woods Jon McAlpin was practicing with the composite longbow that Sir Kendrik had made sure was kept for Jon when he returned. He was about to loose an arrow at a tree to test the bow when a familiar voice called out to him. It was Forestmaster Aidkin, and the two friends chat. Aidkin admires the weapon and asks if he could have a shot. Jon passes him the bow and Aidkin pronounces it as very well balanced. He looses an arrow at a tree and the two rangers go to pull it out but it is stuck fast. As Aidkin tried to vainly remove the arrow he told Jon about the archery competition, telling Jon he should enter it. Jon was reluctant and told Aidkin maybe he should enter also, the friends now on the spot agree to enter together.After the visit to Wonagan’s Cain and Wynn Tyr both headed off to find Sir Kendrik’s items. They first went to Bulan Steelstriker of Clan Garad, a dwarven master blacksmith of high repute. He was busy ordering his apprentices around when the characters arrived and appeared to not suffer fools gladly. They gave Bulan Steelstriker Sir Kendrik’s order and he said it would be impossible to meet it the time given and if he could it would cost 2,500 Gold Marks. Cain then said they would check the other blacksmiths. Bulan Steelstriker said that they wouldn’t find a suit of armour like that in the other smithies. Cain said fair enough and started to leave, the Dwarf then said the price would be higher if they left and came back. Cain realising that the Dwarf was serious told him that he would go get Sir Kendrik and bring him back. Meanwhile at the Harper Hall Sir Kendrik was busy arranging the services of a Harper (bard) for the duration of the tourney. Master Harper Bennon met Sir Kendrik and they started to discuss Kendrik’s needs. Master Bennon impressed on Sir Kendrik that maybe he should petition the Harper Craft Hall to be permanently assigned a Harper. Kendrik thought this was a good idea and would draft the petition when he could over the next few days. Master Bennon left Sir Kendrik alone while he collected a Harper that Sir Kendrik could use for the tourney as a herald.Cain and Wynn Tyr then arrived after been told they could find Sir Kendrik at the hall. They informed Sir Kendrik of what they had found out. Sir Kendrik said good work and told them to wait and he would be there promptly. Master Bennon bought out a short, plump curly haired young man named Stanor. Sir Kendrik started to discuss terms and offered 50 Gold Marks as payment, with Stanor preparing to take advantage of Kendrik’s generosity until Master Bennon intervened by clearing his throat. Stanor reluctantly declined, so Kendrik then dropped the offer to 5 Gold Mark a day, again an overtly generous offer. Stanor again reluctantly declined at the insistence of Master Bennon and a final offer was made of 1 Gold Mark a day. The deal was then struck after a brief discussion of lodging and board, which Kendrik agreed to meet the cost of. Sir Kendrik and Stanor headed briskly to Bulan Steelstriker’s smithy. Sir Kendrik introduced Stanor to Cain and Wynn Tyr and headed into the smithy. Sir Kendrik then started to do business with Bulan Steelstriker. Kendrik had the feeling that the dwarf was trying to make things more difficult than they were, and definitely thought he was trying to take him for a ride. Kendrik decided he would stick to his price. The dwarf asked him what he was willing to pay and Kendrik told him, 1800 Gold Marks and not one copper bit more. Bulan Steelstriker laughed at the young Knight and told him that he wouldn’t go below 2500 Gold Marks considering the timeline. Sir Kendrik told the dwarf that he was the son o f a blacksmith and knew full well the hard work involved but Sir Kendrik wouldn’t budge. Kendrik then asked if the dwarf was willing to let this much work just walk out the door and Kendrik was willing to add more business to that being organised. Sir Kendrik left and headed off to the other smithies. They told him they couldn’t do the work in anywhere near the time. Sir Kendrik swallowed his pride and headed back to Bulan Steelstriker’s. Bulan told him the price was still the same but he would take on the job if Kendrik would pay he price. Sir Kendrik told him he could put his magical armour up as collateral. Bulan Steelstriker told him to go get the suit so he could see what it was worth, then he would start to measure Kendrik up.Kendrik and the rest of the party headed back to the keep and the bumped into Callin, Kendrik informed Callin of developments. Callin gently reminded the young Knight that we had a party gold pool for such occasions as this. Kendrik sheepishly agreed and headed to get the required funds. He returned with the money and the measuring up began. In between measurements Sir Kendrik arranged for a pavilion to me made for the tourney in his colours of azure and argent.Over these 2 days the party prepare for the Greening Day festivities, with Cain, Callin and Jon all buying masterwork arrows for the Archery competition and Jon buying a masterwork Longbow.Marday 1 Greening 1353Before first light the young unmarried ladies of the keep were up and heading out to the fields giggling as they went with baskets and glowbaskets (wicker baskets with continual light cast on them. They can be unhooded to provide light) in their hands intent on collecting flowers for the greening poles. Sir Kendrik and Callin had headed out to the wood with the young unmarried men to chop some trees down for the poles. Kendrik wielded an axe with some skill as he chopped the trees down. The groups got together in the common and the women decorated the poles with ribbons and flowers, giggling all the time. The men just sat back in admiration of the ladies. Up on top of the wizards tower Cain and Wynn Tyr were watching the goings on down in the common. Wynn Tyr then relayed to Cain the real significance of the Greeningday festival. Wynn told Cain that it was an Old Ways festival that the Church of Pelor had claimed as their own. Wynn said that this taking over of the festival was unfortunate but he was glad it was being observed in some way. When the work was over the young men and women headed back to the keep to ready for the church service. The unmarried ladies were to wear a white shift and the unmarried men were to wear a white tunic and trews. Sir Kendrik and Callin put on their greening day clothes and headed for the mass. At the end of the mass the members of the noble household headed for the common for the greening day events. The unmarried ladies of the keep including Ladies Sharra and Elanor gathered around the base of the greening day pole. Then the unmarried men encircled the pole, these included Sir Kendrik and Callin, but then Callin noticed Sir Bron. Baron Montombe’s vile eldest son, and the man who put the bounty on Callin’s head. Callin stepped back into the crowd hoping Sir Bron didn’t see him. This was to the disappointment of the chambermaiden, Igraine who was hoping to pair up with Callin. The men then grabbed a ribbon; at this point the ladies swapped positions to make sure that the men of their hearts were the ones who would end up in front of them.The keep harpers struck up their instruments and the young people start to dance around the Greening Pole, weaving in and out of each other to the beat of the music. The ribbon wove its way down the pole with the men and women getting closer and closer to it till they were entangled together against the pole. Sir Kendrik was pleased to find himself paired with Lady Elanor, who coyly smiled up at him. Lady Sharra ended up caught between rival suitors, Sir Brand and Sir Bron. Sir Kendrik couldn’t take his eyes off his fair maiden but was worried that his Lord, Baron Aldred would look disfavourably at Kendrik for being with Lady Elanor.Harper Pwyll then requested that the women line up in a row and the men to line up a little bit further back from the women. This was to be the start of the chase for the fair maidens. Lady Sharra then spoke and said, “When I say so, run”. She waited a few moments and called out, “Run!!!” As one the young women ran off in all directions trying to get as far from their male counterparts. Soon after the women had run off Sir Brand spoke. He said, “When I say so, run”. Sir Brand held the men back for what seemed an age to Sir Kendrik saying as they waited “Hold it, hold the line” and finally he said, “Run!!!”Sir Kendrik ran after his beloved Lady Elanor, risking the wrath of his Lord for something he felt was the right thing to do in his heart. Lady Elanor had chosen him in the Greening Pole game, clearly she was risking all also. Most of the ladies were running but not so fast as to pull away from their chasers. Sir Brand and Sir Bron were neck and neck running after Lady Sharra; this chase would be a dire struggle between the two rivals. Kendrik was quickly gaining on Lady Elanor when she took a deviation and ran for the town apple orchard. The trees were heavy with fruit and leaves and it was quite dark in there. Sir Kendrik had lost sight of his beloved; Lady Elanor was giggling, playing a game of cat and mouse with her beau. This was a game Sir Kendrik was happy to play along with as he pretended to not know where she was. She moved about giggling and breathing heavily and Kendrik listened for those sounds and followed them. Finally Lady Elanor hid behind a huge apple tree and caught her breath. Kendrik heard her and snuck up behind her around the other side of the tree. As she hid, Sir Kendrik reached around the trunk of the tree and placed his big hairy hands over Lady Elanor’s eyes. She then declared that she was caught and would like to see the man that had captured her. Sir Kendrik moved around and knelt on one knee in front of his beloved, head bowed. Kendrik then declared to her “I am the luckiest man this Greeningday to have caught you, my lady”. Kendrik then declared how difficult it had been staying away from her as his punishment. Elanor knelt down in front of Kendrik brushed his bearded face and said. “ My lord you misunderstand, you can still court me.” She told him, “The Baron has just made it so others can as well.”“Your lack of knowledge of such matters is disarming”, she continued. Kendrik smiled at her, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted off him. Before he could stop smiling Elanor pulled him close and kissed him on the lips. The two young lovers embraced for some time. Elanor rested her head against Kendrik’s barrel chest as he stroked her beautiful dark brown hair and they spoke of their love for each other. Kendrik had never felt happier than this moment, hoping that it would never end, but they both knew that it would be unseemly if they stayed there too long. Tongues would wag and rumours of more dishonour would no doubt follow. Sir Kendrik then held out his arm for Lady Elanor to take and they returned to the festivities. Lady Sharra had been caught by her favoured suitor, Sir Brand. Sir Bron was full of rage over this and the two rival knights were looking like coming to blows at which time Sir Kendrik would have stepped in to separate them.Harper Pwyll announced that the first event would start right after the lunch break.The first event of the tourney was the only one open to commoners, the archery. It was an elimination competition with the archers firing at a target, the worst shot being eliminated. Harper Pwyll made the call for contestants and 18 stepped up. These contestants included our heroes Callin, Cain and Jon, Forestmaster Aidkin, several local rangers and a familiar face to the heroes, Ranger Andrea from Axbridge. The rest of the contestants were made up of townsfolk, many using homemade bows.The archers followed the harper’s orders and lined up in front of the target, which was set 30 feet away. Next they were inspected for magical items and the word was given that everyone was clear. One thing that stood out as the contestants lined up was that Callin was the only person using a short bow, surely a great disadvantage as the distances grew.Pwyll ordered the contestants to Ready, Aim and Fire! As one, the 18 arrows were launched towards the target. Ranger Andrea was the only one to score a bullseye. In a complete shock when the arrows were checked it was Cain who had shot the poorest and was out. Feeling foolish Cain stepped back into the crowd and stood by Sir Kendrik, who said “Better luck next time”The next shot was fired, this time at 60 feet. The next one to be eliminated was one of the rangers, Finbar, who missed the target also. Must have been nerves! At 90 feet the first of the commoners, Jim who had done well with his ancient longbow, was eliminated. Next came 120 feet and another ranger, Liam bit the dust, this was surely not a good showing for the Baron’s bowmen. The next 3 rounds put paid to the chances of 3 commoners, Logan, Raglan and Maurice. By the time the competitors had reached the 300-foot mark two more rangers had gone, Fergus and Gordon. Callin couldn’t believe that he was still there with his trusty shortbow. Dale and Gannon were the next two eliminated. The two remaining heroes were firing brilliantly, as were Andrea and Aidkin. Surely one of these four would be the winner.At 360 feet one of the Baron’s best rangers, Gregory was eliminated. Next to go was the last of the commoners, young Samuel, all of 15 years of age. The remaining 5 were as follows; Callin, Jon, Aidkin, Andrea and Ranger Terrence. Callin amazingly hit the bullseye, and Andrea fired badly, but when the name was called to be eliminated, it wasn’t Andrea, but Aidkin! A truly shock result! Jon shook his friends hand and Aidkin wished him luck. The target was now back at 450 feet and the archers hit the target. Andrea again hitting the bullseye with Jon and Callin not too far from it, Terrence however missed the target and was out. There was now 3 remaining at the distance was a mind boggling at 480 feet. The tension in the hushed crowd was getting to breaking point. The three archers fired and Callin hit, a bullseye. Jon just hit the target and Andrea had missed badly. She stepped back dejectedly. It was now down to Callin and Jon, which of the heroes would win? The target was moved back to 510 feet and Harper Pwyll called for them to ready, they readied. Aim, they aimed. Finally Pwyll gave the order to fire. They let go as one and they both hit the target but it was Callin who was closer to the bulleye and declared the winner. The crowd erupted with applause and cheering. Sir Kendrik led a bunch of people who charged towards Callin to congratulate him. Sir Kendrik grabbed his best friend in a bear hug and with the help of others carried him on their shoulders to the dais to be presented to the Baron and his family. Harper Pwyll announced Callin as the winner of the archery tourney; Callin was trapped now without escape as Sir Bron now noticed who had won. He cast a steely glare at Callin.Harper Pwyll then proclaimed that the next event of the tourney would start in 30 minutes, that event would be the Mageduel. He then asked for contestants to make themselves known to him. Four mages approached the Harper. They were as follows, Wynn Tyr, Wonagan the Apothecary, Baston, and a mysterious woman dressed in blue, called funnily enough The Blue Lady.The first duel was between Wynn Tyr and Baston, a hauty looking mage dressed in shades of brown. The two mages attuned themselves to the contest, a battle between two mages in a protective ring where all spells are kept within this ring and all spells only do subdual damage. The battle was virtually over when Wynn Tyr cast summon swarm on Baston and a swarm of bats attacked him. Every time Baston moved the swarm followed blinding him and he eventually yielded.The next duel was between the Blue Lady and Wonagan, which the Blue Lady won easily by hitting the older mage with strong spells.We now got to the final between our hero Wynn Tyr and the Blue Lady. Both mages had close to drained their spells for the day in the previous duel. Wynn Tyr cast shield and protection from elements (fire and acid) and entered the arena. Wynn Tyr went on the attack with a magic missile spell and the Blue Lady also went all out and hit Wynn Tyr with a fireball, which had no effect on Wynn Tyr. The Blue Lady whispered to Wynn Tyr “This might not be jumping over bonfires but it is as good as a way to determine the Latane (Old Ways name for the Greeningday festival) King and Queen. They cast weaker and weaker spells such as ray of frost when they whispered to each other that they were spent. The Harper announced it was a draw and they would meet the again the next morning to finish the duel.End SessionComments?Suggestions?I have to say I was bitterly disappointed that we ran out of time to have Sir Kendrik’s events but I was very pleased that he got his kiss from Elanor.What did you think of the competitions?The Greeningday fun?</blockquote>

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