The Trefaldwyn Chronicle - Dark Ages Pathfinder

[Dr Simon]

OOC Thread
Rogues Gallery

[sblock=People and Places]

Dinas Derwen - the Fort of the Oak. A wooden fort and hall that forms the court of Llewellyn and protects the settlement of Trefaldwyn. The symbol is an oak leaf and acorn.

Trefaldwyn - town below the hill fort of Dinas Derwen, home to about 500 people.

Llewellyn ap Rhys - lord of Trefaldwyn, can trace descent from Owain, one of Arthur's shieldmen. Like a good Welsh lord, Llewellyn is fond of hunting, boasting and high honour. He is a Christian but still pays lip service to the old gods, just in case.

Bronwen - wife of Lord Llewellyn. The Lady Bronwen is known to still follow the pagan gods, and there are rumours that she has the blood of Anwwfyn within her.

Mair - their daughter, eldest child, a fair maiden yet to come into womanhood.
Ifan - their oldest son, but still in his minority.
Ioerweth - youngest son, little more than a babe in arms.

Dinas Hydd - Fort of the Stag, home to Meirion ap Gryffudd, cousin to Lord Llewellyn. Some twenty mile north of Dinas Derwen, Dinas Hydd guards the Hafren River as it passes through a narrow gap in the hills. Dinas Hydd has no associated town, and effectively owes allegiance to Dinas Derwen.

Meirion ap Gryffudd - younger cousin of Lord Llewellyn, Lord Meirion is unmarried but is notorious for his love of maidens. The fathers of the two lords, Gryffudd and Rhys, were brothers, and their grandfather was Owain, who rode alongside Arthur.

Other Places

The Hafren - a major river in Prydain. Here it is young, narrow and lively but as it flows to the south it forms one of the Three Great Rivers of Prydain (along with the Tamesis and the Tros Hynt), becoming a natural barrier between Wales and Mercia as it heads south.

Coed y Blaidd - the Wolfwood, lies north and west of Dinas Derwen, a vast wild region of forested hills.
Image

Mynydd y Draig - the Hill of the Dragon. About twenty miles east of Trefaldwyn lies the Mynydd y Draig, a long narrow mountain topped with distinctive stone tors, said to be the spines of the dragon that sleeps beneath. The Mynydd y Draig is sacred to the druids. It can be see from the top of the hill above Trefaldwyn.
Image

Cader Idris - Standing at the top of the hill above Trefaldwyn and looking north, the last, highest visible peak is Cader Idris, the Chair of Idris, a tall mountain surrounding a hanging valley, said to have been used as a seat by Idris the giant. The giant has gone, but the heights of the mountain still hold magical secrets.
Image

Annwfyn - the Underworld, a place where fey and other magical creatures, and sometimes the shades of the dead, may be found. Entrances to Annwyfn can be found in marginal areas where land and water, dark and light, air and earth all meet, and the unwary might wander through by accident.

Mynnydd y Gwynt - the Mountain of Winds. Sited some 40 miles north of Trefaldwyn lies a hill above a peaceful valley, where stand some two dozen petrified giants. Tales say that the giants came from the Castell y Gwynt, the Castle of Winds, that lies atop the mountain Glyder Fawr far to the north. The giants marched down from their home causing mayhem and destruction on the way until they were turned to stone by Merlin. Today their sighs can still be heard several miles away on a windy day.

Bryn o Gof - the Hill of Memory. Dinas Derwen stands on an outlier of a larger hill above Trefaldwyn, and this hill is the Bryn o Gof. On top of the hill stands a lonely monolith, and it is said that here one can commune with the souls of dead warriors.
[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

Winter, 600AD

It is a harsh January, but the hall of Dinas Derwen is warm, heated by the firepit in the centre and by the cluster of bodies, of Lord Llewellyn's court and many of the court of his cousin Meirion, here on a visit. The boar has been roasted and served, the mead and spiced ale drunk and the bards have sung their tales. All due courtesies have been observed and the hall is in a relaxed mood, clusters of warriors, womenfolk and lordlings gathered talking, sometimes voices rise spontaneously in song or laughter, sometimes fall into silent contemplation.

Lord Llewellyn has called you all together at the head of the hall, beneath the great oak-leaf tapestry woven by his wife.

"Ah," he says, "there we are. I've asked you here to meet with Lord Meirion, who has a little problem of a supernatural nature. Meirion bach, these are some of my advisors who have served me well in such matters. May I introduce Gwyneira, daughter of Lord Olwen who sent her to me as his representative, if you can believe that, but she's served me better than a hundred knights. They say she has the blood of Annwyn running through her veins, and that Nimue herself was her great grand-dam.

"And this is Myfanwy, come to us from Ynys Mon, trained by the last of the druids and wise in the old ways. It is said she can speak with the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field and the very trees and rocks.

"And this fine man is Quint ap Gloff, one of my trackers, come to us all the way from beyond Rheged, he can track a sparrow by starlight. Now then," Llewellyn looks around his court. "There are a few more I was expecting, hopefully my boys can find them in this throng."

Meirion looks at the three dubiously.

"Foreigners, women and pagans, cousin?" he asks doubtfully. "No offence," he adds hastily. Women and pagans maybe, but it never does to insult a magician. "Is this the best you can offer."

"From what you told me, Meirion bach, it sounds like you need someone who knows the old ways. Your Christian Brethren haven't been able to help. Perhaps the old gods will." He turns to the three before him. "Will you forgive my cousin his rudeness, shame upon his beard, and hear what he has to say?"

 

[Kaodi]

Gwyneira's heart skips a beat when Lord Llewellyn casually outs her as a daughter of Annwyn. But he is her lord, and given that Lady Bronwen is likely a kinswoman after a sorts, it is not surprising that he knows. She trusts his judgement.

"Of course, Lord Llewellyn," says Gwyneira steadily with a quiet smile. "It would not do very well to take offence when people mistake me for that image which I have carefully cultivated: an ordinary woman."

 

[Dr Simon]

OOC: I realised after I wrote this, but Llewellyn doesn't mean to "out" Gwyneira as a changeling - he's just using hyperbole to impress Meirion. As far as can tell from her background, no-one actually knows that Gwyneira is part fey, but there are rumours that there is something unworldy to her. That Llewellyn has come close to the truth unwittingly, however, may well un-nerve her!

 

[Shayuri]

"Well, I'm a woman and a pagan," Myfawny says with a tight smile, "I expect with two out of the three, that must make me the festday winner, hm?"

Her blue eyes, reminder of her father's seafaring heritage, fix on Llewellyn and her face softens a bit at the obvious discomfort there. A man didn't choose his kin...and it behooved her to try to win folk over, not drive them off with a witch's tongue.

"I'll hear him," she relents. "It is a druid's duty to stand between this world and the other."

 

[ghostcat]

Quint nods in the direction of Meirion as he is introduced but doesn't speak. However, when Meirion starts cursing our pagan he has trouble controlling his expression as the memories of the Christian Saxon crosses his mind. Although he want to tell Meirion exactly what he thinks of Christians, he is wise enough to realise that Meirion is Llewellyn cousin, whose court he is in on the lords sufferance and so he keeps his opinions to himself.

 

[Dr Simon]

"Dinas Hydd is beset by some kind of demon, or ghost," says Meirion. "Brother Breandan has had no success in exorcising it. Ever since Christmas Eve, people have been falling ill, and the sickness is not one that any of my healers are familiar with, nothing helps with it. On top of that, there have been ... accidents. People dying in strange ways that could be natural, but are too often to be mere chance. Some people have claimed to see a corpse walking in the snow, others have been having troubled dreams in which they are visited by, well, let us say some kind of lustful demon. Does this sound like the kind of thing you can help with?"

 

[Shayuri]

Myfawny frowns slightly and rocks from her heels to the balls of her feet with a slow, thoughtful cadence. Strange sickness, she believed. Strange accidents were less likely. She knew too well that once people's imaginations caught fire, they were apt to start seeing ghosts and demons and spells in any old thing. And once that talk started spreading...why it was a wonder they hadn't claimed a dragon had descended on the town yet.

But sickness, yes. She could help with that.

The druid lass nods. "I'll need to go see for myself, of course...but yes, I think I can help."

 

[ghostcat]

Quint listens to Meirion tale. He can't help with sickness and accidents. However, "If anything is there is will leave tracks, in which case I can follow them." he says. At the same time he shivers with trepidation at the thought of meeting animated dead.

 

[Kaodi]

Gwyneira purses her lips slightly. In truth she was not sure whether her abilities would be appropriate for dealing with such foulness, but clearly these people were in need of some assurance at least. And surely it would not hurt to help with that. So she nods her head slightly and says, "Potentially, yes."