The Great Pagan Campaign

[ArkSvid]

    I’m a player in an ongoing Pendragon Campaign with the twist that all the players’ families are devout pagans. It wasn’t something we planned ahead of time, all three of us just made our characters independently then came together and went “looks like we’re not going to be seeing much of Jesus in this campaign.” From there our plans grew more ambitious, eventually dreaming of reforming Paganism into a powerful and militaristic force which can fight back against the Saxons and survive the pressures of Christianity.

    But that’s a dream for the future. A few weeks ago I posted a story about how we accidentally threw off the canon timeline for Cornwall in the Anarchy and I enjoyed writing it so much that I began to put together the story for the rest of the campaign so far. And so here it is, the tale of the rise of the Pagan Alliance and the Great Pagan Crusade.

 

    Right now our campaign’s at the year 500. I’m going to try to pace posts here a bit; none of us have enough free time for this “one session equals one year” nonsense (winter session on its own usually ends up with a dedicated session,) and I don’t want to catch up too fast.

 

Year 485

 

Introducing Knights of 485: 

• Mahengroen the Tenacious: Founder of the Groen clan, Mahengroen was famous for his honesty, loyalty, and honor. He would gain a name for himself both for his wealth and for his incredible constitution, which allowed him to survive blows that would kill lesser men.
• Sagrar the Merciless: A mountain of muscle and steel, Sagrar was known throughout Salisbury for the horrifying cruelty he displayed towards his foes. Despite this, he was incredibly loyal to his family and sought to rule his lands with a just, but firm, hand.
• Cynyrsa the Saxon Bane: After losing much of his family to the Saxon invaders, Cynyrsa swore bloody vengeance against all Saxons. Despite the hatred in his heart, he bore an angelic appearance more beautiful than many of the women at court.

 

    The Pagan Alliance had its humble beginnings with the soon to be knighted squires Mahengroen, Sagrar, and Cynyrsa training under the watch of Sir Elad at Vagon Castle. After making an impressive display of their skills, the three were dispatched to Imber village to hunt down a man-eating bear that had been terrorizing the population. The first day of the hunt was spent fruitlessly wandering through the woods, interrupted only by a brief glimpse of King Pellinore riding by as he chased his Questing Beast.

    On the second day of the hunt Sagrar came up with the plan of luring out the bear with bait. As this was a man-eating bear, he reasoned that clearly the best bait would be to tie a peasant to a tree and wait for the bear to come. To the surprise of many (including the GM) the bear came into the open to investigate. Before it could devour the peasant, the squires ambushed it. The beast tried to escape through the woods, but Cynyrsa cornered it by a lake and slew the bear in single combat.

 

    Upon finishing their hunt the squires returned to Sarum for their knighting ceremony. At court each tried wooing one of the famous ladies of Salisbury, to varying degrees of success. Cynyrsa made his advances towards the beautiful Lady Adwen (their genetics would have created the most beatious children in all of Britain), Sagrar towards the cursed Lady Gwiona (reasoning that he was too Strong to be killed by a curse,) and Mahengroen towards the unfaithful Lady Elaine (“We are Pagans, you can sleep with whoever you want!”). Sagrar and Cynyrsa stayed up all night for their vigil, Sagrar spending the time with one of the serving ladies and Cynyrsa praying to the pagan gods of Britain. That morning, the three squires were knighted.

    Their first duty as knights was to go on patrol in the Bourne River Valley under the command of Sir Amig. They soon encountered a group of hostile knights who sought to raid the lands of Salisbury, and engaged them in battle. Cynyrsa was struck unconscious in the first lance charge, but Mahengroen and Sagrar quickly felled their opponents. Realizing they were outmatched, the raiders retreated. The Salisbury knights managed to catch a glimpse of their foes heraldry, revealing them to be from Levcomagus in the county of Silchester.

 

    That summer Mahengroen and Sagrar planned their retribution against Levcomagus. But before they could extract their full vengeance, they would need more information about the knights who had attacked them. They gathered their family knights with promises of plunder and launched a raid into Silchester. However their unfamiliarity with the local terrain resulted in them being quickly discovered by a patrol from Levcomagus and they were forced into battle. The patrol was crushed, with nearly half its number killed and the rest fleeing. With no one left to oppose them, the knights began to loot the closest village. The peasants who had not managed to flee in time were interrogated for information about the knights and lords of Levcomagus, especially those who had participated in the raid against Salisbury. As reward for being forthcoming with this information, Sagrar did not slaughter them all.

 

    Back in Sarum the recovered Cynyrsa was experiencing a taste of courtly drama. He discovered that the master swordsman Sir Jaradan also sought to woo Lady Adwen, immediately sparking a fierce rivalry between the two knights. Some poorly chosen words by Cynyrsa led to Sir Jaradan challenging him to a duel. Despite Sir Jaradan’s superior skill with the sword, Cynyrsa managed to knock over his foe, impressing and surprising many.

    When Sagrar and Mahengroen returned from their raid they asked their lord Earl Roderick to launch further attacks into Silchester and deal with the troublesome Levcomagus once and for all. While they did inspire the Earl’s thirst for vengeance, there was no time to make war against another county as King Uther was calling the forces of Logres to march with him in war against Sussex.

 

    Many lords of Logres were absent from King Uther’s army, most notably Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. The knights who did come engaged King Aelle of Sussex at the Battle of Mearcred Creek. The battle was a bloody struggle, with Sagrar and Cynyrsa losing many of their family members. Mahengroen was brought to the brink of death, only surviving due to his incredible constitution. King Uther withdrew from the field, making it clear to the knights how dire the threat of the Saxons were.

Edited August 15, 2022 by ArkSvid

[Hzark10]

An interesting beginning...

[ArkSvid]

This was the year that we started to experiment with rolling up characters from one of the unnamed NPCs in our families to act as a backup in case of situations like Cynyrsa being unconscious for an entire season last year. At this point we just made one for Cynyrsa, but as we got further into the campaign and things became more dangerous it became the norm for us to have two knights to play as: one who was the head of the family and considered our “main” knight, and a lesser family knight to step in whenever the main was out of play for some reason. Over time their role would expand, until a few years from now the B Team of knights will be having their own storylines and sometimes going on adventures of their own while the A Team is busy with political stuff.

 

Year 486

 

Introducing the Knights of 486

• Gidwyr: Cynyrsa's cousin. Don't get too attached to him.

 

    The pagan knights of Salisbury began the year on garrison duty during which  they were waved down by an old man who asked the three to help him recover his runaway goat. They fruitlessly chased the goat until it led them to a vicious three eyed giant. Sagrar knocked the giant over with a single powerful blow, and the knights set upon it, killing it with brutal efficiency. The knights then ordered their squires to take the giant’s remains home, as they intended to fashion its bones into trophies.

    Surprising no one, the old man revealed himself as Merlin. He ordered the knights to protect him, and led them to a fae forest. There they did battle with a Nukalavee, and watched Merlin acquire a strange magical sword.

    The knights then divided the giant’s bones between them. Sagrar took the skull, which he placed on a spear as a trophy of his victory. Mahengroen hired an artisan to craft a throne out of the ribcage and limbs. And finally Cynyrsa took the hands to the druids of Stonehenge, where they fashioned the knuckle bones into talismans which would grant the wearer greater healing.

 

    After their garrison duty ended Cynyrsa and Mahengroen met a group of Dorset knights visiting Salisbury. The groups became quick friends, and the Salisbury knights were invited to visit Dorset as well. In Dorset a friendly hunting competition was held between the Dorset and Salisbury knights. The Salisbury group won, hunting down an entire pack of wolves. Good cheer was had by all as both parties of knights feasted and told increasingly exaggerated stories of their adventures.

    Meanwhile, Sagrar remained in Salisbury and patrolled the area around his manor. A peasant warned Sagrar that he had seen what looked like a Saxon raiding party. Sagrar rode to investigate, but instead of Saxons he found bandits. The criminals were no match for a trained knight, and Sagrar quickly defeated the crew. Upon interrogating the survivors he learned that the bandits had been hired by the Steward of Levcomagus as a reprisal against Salisbury’s raid last year (which was a reprisal of Levcomagus’s raid which was probably a reprisal for a….) When Sagrar reported this to the other pagan knights upon their return from vacation, it only further fueled their desire to strike against Levcomagus.

Edited August 20, 2022 by ArkSvid

[ArkSvid]

Year 487

 

Introducing the Knights of 487

• Agragor the Merciful: The younger brother of Sagrar. Charismatic, reasonable, and caring, he was the opposite of his brother in almost every way. His wide variety of skills and loyalty to his lord would serve him well as a knight of Salisbury.

 

 

    During the Christmas Court of 487, Merlin presented the magical sword Excalibur to King Uther. Cynyrsa, Sagrar, and Mahengroen told the story of how they had assisted Merlin in acquiring the sword, impressing everyone at court. During the following celebration, Cynyrsa once again accidentally insulted Sir Jaradan, leading to another duel. This time Sir Jaradan’s superior skills proved true and Cynyrsa suffered a humiliating defeat.

 

    In the summer Logres launched a series of naval raids against the Saxon kingdoms, seeking to burn as many Saxon ships as they could. Under the leadership of Uther’s son, Prince Madoc, the knights of Logres sailed up and down the coast of Britain, devastating every Saxon harbor they came across. Sagrar and Cynyrsa were gravely injured during the second raid. While Cynyrsa chose to retire from the raids, Sagrar continued to fight in the following raids until his comrades begged for him to rest and allow his brother, Agragor, to take his place.

    After weeks of facing only token resistance, the forces of Logres were ambushed by a Saxon force twice their size in Essex. They fought bravely, but the knights were unable to resist the Saxon’s superior numbers and had to retreat back to their ships. Gidwyr was killed by a Heorthgeneat and Agragor knocked unconscious during the retreat. With Saxons forces streaming forth, Mahengroen stood in their way, fighting three at once. He slew one of his foes and successfully fended off the others, allowing Agragor to be recovered by his squire and the Logres knights to successfully reach their ships without any further casualties.

    Even though Logres lost the engagement with Essex, as a whole the raids were a resounding success. The knights who had survived returned home with their purses brimming with loot, and the Saxons would need years to rebuild all the ships that they had lost.

 

Obituary

Gidwyr (463-487, 24 years old): Died childless, landless, unmarried, and with no major accomplishments of note. Final Glory: 1273

Edited August 28, 2022 by ArkSvid

[Ironwall]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:36 PM, ArkSvid said:

he reasoned that clearly the best bait would be to tie a peasant to a tree and wait for the bear to come

i have to ask did they ever untie the peasant or was the peasant forgotten?

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Ironwall

[ArkSvid]

9 hours ago, Ironwall said:

i have to ask did they ever untie the peasant or was the peasant forgotten?

 

I think we untied him

Probably

[ArkSvid]

Not much happened in 488, so I can use this chance to mention the lands owned by the player knights, as I forgot that at the start.

Sagrar holds Winterbourne Gunnet Manor, Mahengroan holds Newton Tony Manor, and and Cynysra holds Idmiston Manor. All three are in close proximity along the Bourne River.

 

Year 488

 

    This year was a quiet one, with the knights spending most of their time in garrison duty or training their skills. The one adventure of note was when King Uther requested knights to assist the Kingdom of Somerset exterminate a group of water leapers: giant tadpoles with wings and teeth that ate human flesh. Mahengroen and Sagrar joined the expedition and proved their skill against the beasts. Even when one of the water leapers dragged Sagrar under the lake, he continued to fight it while holding his breath, killing the monster in its own territory.

Edited September 4, 2022 by ArkSvid

[ArkSvid]

Year 489

 

    The year began with King Uther marching his forces to battle the rebellious Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. The knights prepared themselves for a difficult battle, but this was averted when Uther drew Excalibur. Upon seeing the Sword of Victory, Duke Gorlois was willing to stand down and negotiate. The two armies met in the field not to fight, but to celebrate peace between their lords.

 

    Uther then turned his army northwards to relieve the besieged city of Eburacum from a Saxon army led by King Octa and Eosa. Neither army was prepared for a decisive battle, so Uther sent the knights out to counter the Saxon’s raiding parties and deny them plunder. Cynyrsa chose to ride ahead and scout the villages to see which were being attacked. He soon discovered a group of 14 Saxons who were just leaving a village with their freshly gained loot. Cynyrsa sent his squire back to inform the other knights while he charged the Saxons, hoping to delay their escape. While brave, such a maneuver was incredibly foolish. The Saxons nimbly avoided Cynyrsa’s charge and then killed his horse out from underneath him. Cynyrsa was no match for the Saxon’s numbers without his horse and was gravely wounded by them. He was only saved from death due to the timely arrival of the other knights, who engaged the Saxons in a fierce melee.

    Sagrar and Agragor were the heroes of the fight, together defeating over half of the raiders. The results of their combat clearly showed the difference between the brothers: all of Sagrar’s enemies had been killed, often in one strike, while Agragor took everyone he fought alive. One of Agragor’s foes was captured without leaving a single scratch on him; Agragor repeatedly disarmed the Saxon until he did not even have a dagger left to defend himself with and surrendered out of shame.

[ArkSvid]

Year 490

 

Introducing the Knights of 490

• Gadd the Fist: Cynyrsa’s cousin and Gydwyr’s illegitimate older brother. A poor example of a knight, Gadd’s deceitful nature and gambling skills made him more at home amongst the criminals and lowlives of society than the court of nobles. He shunned the traditional weapons of a knight and fought with his bare hands, often capturing his foes by pulling them right off their horses. (Our GM’s using the 5.0 rulebook, which has grapple as its own separate skill).
• Gahengroen the Gregarious: The younger brother of Mahengroen. Extremely attractive and sociable, he was well liked amongst the ladies of Salisbury.
• Merrok the Martyr:  Sagrar’s cousin. An adventurer who took every opportunity he could find to travel Britain on heroic quests. His fanatic devotion to paganism in the face of persecution would come to play a major role in the religious narrative of the pagan alliance. Over the years his adventurous side would mellow out as he matured into a wise patriarch of his family.

 

    The Battle of Lindsey. An epic clash between the armies of King Uther and the heinous Saxon invaders under the command of King Octa and Eosa the Giant to determine the fate of Britain. All knights at the battle fought valiantly, but it was here that Cynyrsa proved himself and earned the title “Saxon Bane.” Cynyrsa’s rage against the Saxons ran wild as he cut down his foes left and right.

    As the battle neared its end, Duke Gorlois of Cornwall charged the Saxon’s right flank and defeated Eosa the Giant, causing the flank to rout. Soon after Uther unleashed the power of Excalibur, destroying the Saxon center and causing their army to break and flee. Amidst the chaos Cynyrsa saw King Octa trying to rally his bodyguards, and the pagan knights charged to do battle with the Saxon king. Cynyrsa instantly slew one of Octa’s bodyguards, and then he and Sagrar together fought the king. Octa was a powerful opponent, made more dangerous by the magical Axe Haevn that he wielded. Sagrar was knocked out of the fight early on, leaving Cynyrsa to battle the king alone. After a fierce exchange of blows Octa was unhorsed and captured. As the battle drew to its close Cynyrsa brought the captured king to Uther, who showered the knights with treasure as reward. Cynyrsa kept the Axe Haevn as a trophy; while he wasn’t trained in using an axe, Cynyrsa promised that his child would be taught how to wield the weapon and continue his legacy of slaying Saxons (this promise is going to come back to bite me 10 years from now).

 

    With the Saxon army crushed Prince Madoc led a raiding band to strike while the land was defenseless. The knights still healthy enough to fight joined him, burning down multiple Saxon villages.

Edited September 17, 2022 by ArkSvid

[ArkSvid]

Year 491

Introducing the Knights of 491

• Vortinc the Good Pagan: Cynyrsa’s cousin. A paragon of pagan virtue with a keen strategic mind and a deep love for his family. His rise to fame would one day overshadow Cynyrsa to the point that the name of their clan would change from the Cynyrsa Clan to “The Vortinc Clan.”

 

    With the pagan knights having gained the king’s favor from their success at the Battle of Lindsey, Sagrar and Cynyrsa requested permission from Earl Roderick to marry Ladies Gwiona and Adwen. Sagrar was granted permission to marry Lady Gwiona, and their marriage set for the coming winter. It seems Sagrar the Merciless truly was stronger than any curse.

    Cynyrsa’s request to marry Lady Adwen had a complication: Sir Jaraden had made the same request earlier that day. Earl Roderick had not given Sir Jaraden a definitive answer yet, so there was still hope for Cynyrsa. Roderick declared that whichever of the two knights performed best in the upcoming war would be granted Lady Adwen’s hand in marriage.

 

    And war was coming. The treacherous Duke Gorlois of Cornwall had broken the king’s hospitality and risen in rebellion. However Cynyrsa’s sources in the court revealed that Uther’s desire for Duke Gorlois’s wife, Ygraine, was the real cause of the conflict. But whether the conflict was just or not, the king had ordered them to war and so they would go.

 

    On the eve before the battle Sir Jaraden swaggered through the army’s camp, showing off a jeweled sword he had bought. While bragging about the purchase, he made some barbed jests regarding Cynyrsa’s tendency towards being knocked unconscious in battle. As much as this angered Cynyrsa, he did not want to risk injuring himself right before such an important battle, so he let the comments pass without challenging Sir Jaraden to a duel. Instead he went to his cousin Gadd and began to plot revenge.

    Gadd was more than willing to engage in underhanded revenge quests, and quickly put together a plan, recruiting Sagrar to act as his muscle. Sir Jaraden’s squire was a young man named Beris, who was developing a reputation for his greed. Gadd found Beris while the squire was away from his knight and invited him to a game of dice. Beris’s greed was greater than his sense and he accepted the offer, despite Gadd’s famous deceitfulness. Gadd and Sagrar played the squire along, tempting his greed to pull him into increasingly larger bets until the stakes were much higher than any squire could hope to pay off. At that point Gadd pulled out every cheating trick he knew until Beris found himself owing over 20 libra to the knights. Gadd “graciously”offered Beris a way out of the debt: bring him the jeweled sword Sir Jaraden was so proud of, and all obligations would be cleared. Beris was greatly tempted, but his loyalty to Sir Jaraden won out and he refused, even when Sagrar tried to intimidate the squire.

 

    The plan to steal the jeweled sword may have been foiled, but there was another way to strike back at Sir Jaraden. The upcoming battle would determine whether Cynyrsa or Jaraden would be able to marry Lady Adwen; it would be a shame if Sir Jaraden was wounded before the battle began and wasn’t able to fight at his full strength. Claiming it was to serve as a reminder for his debt, Sagrar cut off Beris’s left pinky finger and sent him back to his knight. The moment Sir Jaraden saw what Sagrar had done to his squire, he immediately challenged Sagrar to a duel.

    While Sir Jaraden may have once been the most skilled swordsman in Salisbury, he had spent the last few years practicing his courtly skills to try and woo Lady Adwen, while Sagrar had done nothing but study the blade and had surpassed Sir Jaraden’s abilities. The duel lasted only moments before Sagrar drew first blood and Sir Jaraden was forced to surrender. The wound was not deep enough to greatly hinder Sir Jaraden’s combat ability, but just seeing the master swordsman being so quickly defeated filled Cynyrsa with joy.

 

    Uther’s armies laid siege to Terrabil, where Duke Gorlois and his army were holed up at. The siege reached a climax when Duke Gorlois led a night attack on Uther’s forces. In the chaos of the fighting Gorlois killed Prince Madoc, Uther’s son, only to then be immediately killed by the pagan knights of Salisbury. Seeing the death of their liege threw Gorlois’ bodyguards into an impassioned rage. The pagan knights were nearly wiped out, with Cynyrsa being decapitated and the rest brought to the verge of death before reinforcements arrived and rescued them. The battle was won, but at terrible cost, both for the king and the pagan alliance.

 

    Cynyrsa’s death caused a crisis in his family as he had no male heirs, brothers, and none of his sisters were married to knights who could take over the military duties required of his manor. Vortinc, as the most prestigious living knight in the family, claimed ownership of Idmiston Manor and moved in. This was at best questionably legal, and at worst a blatant power grab. Vortinc’s claim would not go unchallenged.

 

    The bodies of Prince Madoc and Cynyrsa had barely had the time to cool before Uther declared his engagement to Lady Ygraine, the widow of Duke Gorlois. He held a lavish wedding in the summer which included a hunting tournament that the pagan knights would participate in. The first day of the tournament was fairly uneventful, but on the second day the group found a lion’s tracks. They tracked the beast down and ambushed it, dealing great wounds to it. This was not enough to kill the lion and it let loose a terrifying roar. Vortinc and Mahengroen fled in terror, leaving Sagrar alone to face it. Strong as he was, Sagrar could not hope to kill a lion by himself, and was brutally torn apart.

    On the final day of the tournament Vortinc and Mahengroen went hunting for the lion, seeking to avenge the death of Sagrar. They followed the wounded beast’s trail, and upon finding it quickly struck it before it could release another roar. Thanks to the injuries inflicted on it the day before, the two were able to defeat the lion. This was by far the greatest catch in the tournament, and Vortinc was given a masterwork sword as a prize (+2 to sword skill).

 

    Mahengroen spent lavishly during the fall and winter. He gave Lady Elaine over 22 libra worth of jewelry as a gift, which finally convinced her to accept his proposal and the two were married in the winter. Mahengroen also built a marble statue of Sagrar in Newton Tony Manor to memorialize the death of his friend. Superstitious peasants would claim that on some nights blood would flow from the statue’s unsheathed blade, but this story was never confirmed by any reputable source.

 

Obituary

Cynyrsa (465-491, 26 years old): Had his brief moment of fame after defeating King Octa, but his rising star was quickly cut down. His lands would be inherited by his cousin, Vortinc. Cynyrsa only had one living child, an illegitimate daughter named Avariath, who was also taken into Vortinc’s care. Despite the protests from decent society regarding proper gender roles, Vortinc swore to fulfill Cynyrsa’s promise and raise his child to wield the magical axe of Haevn against the Saxons. Final Glory: 3,934

 

Sagrar (465-491, 26 years old): It turned out even Sagrar was not strong enough to defeat the curse of trying to marry Lady Gwiona. Sagrar only had one child, an illegitimate son named Sagrados who could not legally inherit Winterbourne Gunnet Manor. Instead his lands were passed to his brother, Agragor. Sagrados was taken in by Sagrar’s cousin, Merrok, who would give the child a proper pagan education. Final Glory: 3,862

[ArkSvid]

Year 492

    In the opening weeks of 492 Vortinc’s succession controversy came to a head when he was challenged for ownership of Idmiston Manor by Cynyrsa’s eldest sister, Essyrre, as legally she should have been the next in line for inheritance. Part of Vortinc’s justification for taking control had been that none of Cynyrsa’s sisters could fulfill the military obligations tied to ownership of the manor, but Essyre had recently become engaged to Sir Kahenus, the Grey Knight of Levcomagus. She pressed her claim to Idmiston Manor, and Vortinc responded by challenging Sir Kahenus to a trial by combat. Despite Vortinc’s belief that his gods would grant him victory, he was defeated by Sir Kahenus, and ownership of the manor was transferred to Essyrre. This left Vortinc shakened, and he would spend several months in isolation at Stonehenge trying to reaffirm his pagan faith.

    Gadd investigated Sir Kahenus following the duel. He discovered that Kahenus was one of the Levcomagus knights who had participated in the raid on Salisbury way back in 485 that had sparked the feud between the pagan knights and Levcomagus in the first place. The fact that the foul knights of Levcomagus were trying to steal land from one of their own infuriated the pagan alliance, and they began moving forward on plans to strike back against Levcomagus in earnest.

 

    Manpower was the biggest obstacle the pagan knights had to overcome if they wanted to seriously hurt Levcomagus. While Earl Roderick did support the idea of striking back, his duties to King Uther consistently prevented him from mobilizing the forces of Salisbury to fight offensively. An unexpected opportunity would come when Agragor learned a group of unusually organized bandits had been active on his lands. Upon further investigation he discovered that the bandits were actually a group of mercenaries known as Gilbert’s Company who had fallen to a life of crime due to lack of finances. Insead of driving them out of his lands, Agragor offered the mercenaries work. He gave them enough money to make it through their current financial difficulties, with the promise of additional payment if the mercenaries supported the knights’ upcoming raid on Levcomagus. While they were somewhat suspicious of the offer, the mercenaries did agree and ceased their banditry.

 

    Later in the summer the knights attended the double wedding of Lady Margawse and Elaine, Queen Ygraine's daughters, to King Lot and King Nentres, respectively. A horse race was held afterwards, ending with Gadd and Sir Jaraden tying for third place. Sir Jaraden tried to reignite the rivalry he’d had with the Cynyrsa family, but was rather upset to realize that Cynyrsa had been the only one who’d actually cared about the feud. Gadd didn’t even remember Sir Jaraden at first, and laughed off any attempts at provocation once he’d been reminded.

 

    Vortinc, Gahengroen, and Merrok spent any free time they could find scouting the lands around Levcomagus, especially near Sir Kahenus’s holding of Wildehern Manor. They established a basic plan of attack, but were called to garrison duty at Terrabil before it could be enacted.

    During their patrol around Terrabil the knights encountered Merlin, who requested their assistance delaying his pursuers. The wizard left before they could ask for details, but Merrok caught a brief glimpse of a baby that Merlin was carrying. Mahengroen had the patrol line up in preparation for a lance charge, and ordered the attack upon seeing another group of knights in pursuit of Merlin. The combat lasted only a brief few moments before they realized they were attacking Sir Brastias, King Uther’s bodyguard, and his knights. Realizing they had been tricked by Merlin, the knights were quick to tell Sir Brastias where Merlin had gone and joined him in the pursuit. At first it seemed like they would catch the wizard, only for another patrol of knights to attack them. These were also Logres knights who had been deceived by Merlin and who quit fighting once they realized who it was they were attacking. As it seemed Merlin intended to throw every patrol in the county at them, Vortinc suggested to Sir Brastias that the knights announce themselves as they rode. Squires rode ahead to shout, “Make way for the King’s men!” which prevented any further attacks. Despite this, they were still unable to catch Merlin.

 

    A week later the knights were served notice that Sir Brastias had accused them of treason, and were put on trial. The baby that Merlin had been carrying had been Queen Ygraine’s son, and assisting in the kidnapping was a grave crime. The knights argued that their actions should exonerate them of any guilt, as the moment they had realized the truth of the situation they had done everything they could to assist in capturing Merlin. Earl Roderick voiced his support for the knights, despite the political dangers of doing so. But in the end the trial was decided by Bishop Dubricus. The bishop claimed that the knights had been ensorcelled by Merlin, and must undergo a Christian cleansing ritual to rid themselves of this magical taint. All knights agreed without issue except for the devoutely pagans Vortinc and Merrok. They believed that a pagan cleansing ritual would be just as effective in removing any traces of sorcery; perhaps even more effective as the druids of Britain would be more knowledgeable on the topic than some Christian priest.

    The two pagan knights debated with the bishop for over an hour before Vortinc reached a compromise. He would undergo the Christian ritual on the conditions that 1. A druid of his choosing would examine the contents of the ritual first to ensure nothing suspicious was included (Vortinc had heard disturbing stories about how during Christians’ worship they would drink blood, cannibalize human flesh, and worst of all promote celibacy) and 2. He would be allowed to undergo a pagan cleansing ritual in addition to the Christian one. Once the bishop, clearly tired from the discussion, agreed to these terms, Vortinc went forward with the cleansing.

    Merrok however would not be swayed by any agreements, claiming he would rather be executed than compromise his religious beliefs. The bishop declared that Merrok was clearly still under the effect of Merlin’s magics, and should be held in the dungeons until he came to his senses.

 

    In the final weeks of fall the pagan alliance finally launched their attack on Wildehern Manor. Agragor, Mahengroen, Gahengroen, Gadd, Vortinc, 50 mercenaries from Gilbert’s Company, and a handful of Salisbury knights recruited by the promise of plunder followed the trails that had been scouted out earlier in the year to reach the manor without encountering any patrols. The raiders began to loot the surrounding hamlets and villages, hoping to draw out the defenders of Wildehern into open combat. But no matter how much damage the raiders did, the defending knights remained behind the safety of the manor’s walls. The Salisbury raiders had free reign to take whatever they wanted for several days, until reinforcements from Levcomagus arrived to support Wildehern.

    With the additional knights from Levcomagus the defenders of Wildehern felt confident enough to rally their levy and march out to fight the raiders. This proved to be a grave mistake, as the better equipped mercenaries crushed the peasant levy while the Salisbury knights quickly forced their Levcomagus peers to retreat. The Salisbury forces pursued up to the gates of Wildehern Manor, where their remaining opponents had fled to. As Mahengroen and Vortinc discussed the feasibility of just burning the manor down, the gates opened up and Sir Kahenus came out. He offered a duel of champions, with the fight determining the fate of the knights inside the manor. If Sir Kahenus won, the Windehern and Levcomagus knights would be free to leave. If the Salisbury champion won, all the Windehern and Levcomagus knights would surrender to them to be held for ransom. Vortinc, with a score to settle from his last duel with Kahenus, accepted and sley Sir Kahenus in single combat. True to their word, the rest of the knights surrendered, and the treasures stored inside Windehern Manor were looted and divided amongst the raiding knights.

 

    Gilbert’s Company was impressed by how the pagan alliance worked to preserve their lives during the fighting and gave them part of the plunder beyond what would normally be their share; a far cry from how most knights treated sellswords. The relationship between Gilbert’s Company and the pagan alliance would grow stronger over the years as the alliance repeatedly hired them for work, treated the mercenaries with respect, and even subsidized them whenever possible to ensure they were armed with the best gear they could buy. This caused Gilbert’s Company to be far more loyal to the pagan alliance than would normally be expected from swords for hire, and the mercenaries would become a cornerstone of the alliance’s forces.

[ArkSvid]

Year 493

    Gadd found himself starting the year with more money than he really knew what to do with. Even after lavishly spending on treasure and his lifestyle, he still had a mountain of libra left over. And so he decided to put that money towards one of his greatest dreams: running his own gambling house.

    There was one problem with this dream: Gadd was a household knight, and as such did not own any land to build his gambling house on. Nor did he really want to take on the responsibilities that owning a full manor would require. After some discussion with his friends Agragor offered to let Gadd rent a plot of land by his manor and construct the gambling house there. And so, the gambling den Cocktail Roulette was opened for business (our GM put that name down as a placeholder but we just kept it, despite being completely aware that neither cocktails or roulette have been invented yet.) 

 

    In the spring of 493 the Saxon kings Octa and Eosa escaped their captivity. To counter this King Uther sent Earl Roderick to the Kingdom of Malahaut in order to request an alliance against the Saxons. Amongst the knights accompanying Roderick were Mahengroen, Gahengroen, and Agragor.

    The diplomatic mission was a disaster, with the Salisbury envoys not even being allowed inside the city of Eburacum to see the king. To make things even worse the king of Malahaut was willing to meet with Saxon envoys, making it clear they had no intention to form an alliance with Logres. After weeks of being stonewalled, Earl Roderick decided to head home. His party was ambushed on the road by some of the very same Saxons who had been treating with the king of Malahaut. While the Earl’s party did escape, it was a very close call with all of the knights suffering major injuries.

 

    Back in Salisbury Vortinc spent most of his time training or on patrol duty under the command of Sir Hywel. During one such patrol the local peasants reported giant wolves, the size of bears, terrorizing their livestock. Vortinc’s knowledge of the fae allowed him to correctly deduce that these were not ordinary wolves, but magical black dogs. The patrol went in search of the creatures, but found the tables turned on them when the black dogs ambushed the knights while they were encamped. The knights fought against the dogs through the night, until the beasts fled at sunrise. The patrol was exhausted and hadn’t managed to kill a single one of the dogs, but at least they had all survived.

    While the true nature of the black dogs’ attacks was never confirmed, a series of odd coincidences did paint a disturbing picture. While Vortinc had been on patrol his cousin, Essyrre, who had taken control of Idmiston Manor from him not long ago, had been accused of malicious witchcraft. The knights who had been sent to arrest her were found dead the next day, and Essyrre had disappeared without a trace. The timing of her arrest matched suspiciously well with the moment that the black dogs fled from their fight with the patrol, and after Essyrre’s disappearance the peasants reported no further attacks.

    Despite the strange nature of the events, what mattered to the pragmatically minded Vortinc was that Idmiston Manor was once again up for grabs. Hoping to avoid facing any other inheritance disputes, Vortinc requested Earl Roderick’s support for his claim to the manor. The Earl did favor Vortinc, but wanted to have the inheritance properly investigated before making a decision. The manor would be held by the Earl for the time being.

[Morien]

2 hours ago, ArkSvid said:

Cocktail Roulette

Obviously the sign of the place is rooster's tail feathers on a wheel that spins. I don't see a problem. 🙂

Edited October 8, 2022 by Morien

[borbetomagnus]

This is a great campaign @ArkSvid!! Please continue to post notes here as it continues. I've always been interested in the Pagan versions of Arthurian myths from texts like the Mabinogion. 

[ArkSvid]

Year 494

    King Uther sought to create more alliances in order to combat the Saxons, and as such sent a party of knights, including Agragor and Vortinc, to the King Canan of Estragales. The trip began as a joyous occasion, with the pagan knights entertaining their hosts with boastful stories of their exploits. Some of the local mountain tribesmen in service to King Canan hosted a horse race through the countryside. The pagan knights knew they had no chance of winning a race in such mountainous terrain, and as such they took things slow while laughing uproariously as the knights who tried to win were flung from their horses.

 

    The trip ended with a feast where King Canan announced he was receptive to an alliance with Uther. Yet tragedy struck at that moment: the king’s son, Sir Dirac, handed his father a cup of wine. Upon drinking the wine King Canan collapsed, poisoned. Sir Orcas, the Steward of Estragales, accused Sir Dirac of murdering the king. But Agragor, ever reasonable, calmed the crowd by pointing out that Sir Dirac may have been an unwitting participant in the plot. However Sir Orcas’ speed in accusing the prince was in itself suspicious. Insulted by this insinuation, Sir Orcas challenged Agragor to a duel and defeated the pagan knight.
    Despite being wounded from the duel Agragor was determined to uncover the truth of King Canan’s death. He had several witnesses amongst the serving staff interviewed and carefully examined all the evidence that could be found. All inquiries seemed to point to Sir Orcas, who continued to insist that the prince was the true murderer. Finally Vortinc challenged Sir Orcas to a trial by combat to determine his guilt.

    Sir Orcas refused at first, saying he had already won such a trial against Agragor. Vortinc claimed that his previous duel had been a matter of honor, defending himself against an insult, and not a judicial trial. Such an argument was shaky, but most of the nobles at the feast were growing suspicious of the steward and supported Vortinc.

 

    This time Sir Orcas was handily defeated, knocked to the ground in the first exchange of blows. Clearly a sign from the gods that the steward was guilty of poisoning his own king. Sir Orcas refused to accept this result, and attacked Vortinc while the knight’s back was turned. But Vortinc still held the gods’ favor as he easily parried the blow and struck down the treacherous Sir Orcas. As the steward’s body was carried away a glass vial containing drops of poison was found among his belongings, confirming his guilt for all to see.

 

    While the Salisbury knights may have saved Sir Dirac from accusations of patricide, the situation in Estragales had quickly spiraled out of control beyond their original mission. They had to return home with the news that there would be no alliance, as Estragales was now consumed by the tribulations of handling Dirac’s sudden succession.

[ArkSvid]

Year 495

    The Saxon kings Octa and Eosa continued their devastation of Britain by capturing the city of St. Albans, so in response Uther marshaled his armies and marched forth to drive the Saxons back. Upon arriving they found the gates of St. Albans wide open and undefended. Seeing a chance for an easy victory, Uther’s army charged into the city. But it was a trap; as the troops entered the city the gates slammed shut and the Saxons fell upon them. All who had been foolish enough to cross the gates were slain.

    Seeking to maintain their initiative the Saxons marched out of St. Albans to battle Uther in the field. The Battle of St. Albans was a chaotic mess, quickly devolving from orderly lines of combat into hundreds of individual melees. The pagan alliance’s unit was separated early in the day, and they spent several hours fighting on their own as they tried to regroup.

    Not long after the unit reformed they saw Earl Roderick thrown from his horse by a Saxon attack, and so the knights rushed forward to protect their liege. They did manage to save the Earl, but it came at a terrible cost. Mahengroen was killed by an enraged Saxon hearthgenaut, Gadd pulled from his horse and captured, and the rest of the unit all gravely injured. Their squires had to pull the unconscious knights away from the fight as more Salisbury men rushed forward to cover their retreat.

 

    Vortinc was the first to regain consciousness, several weeks after the battle’s end. He awoke to terrible news: the lords of Logres were dead. The Battle of St. Albans may have been a victory, but a treacherous Saxon had poisoned the wine and mead served at the victory feast. King Uther, Earl Roderick, and nearly all other high ranking nobility of Logres died at that feast, leaving the kingdom without its leaders.

    Amidst the despair there was a silver lining to this tragedy for the pagan alliance. With Uther dead, everyone was too busy dealing with the fallout to care about any past accusations of treason that had been thrown against Merrok. His guards were now quite willing to let him go in exchange for a ransom payment, no doubt eager to make this fanatic pagan someone else’s problem. This was when Merrok gained the title “the Martyr” amongst his pagan brethren, for never compromising on his faith during his years of imprisonment.

 

    Salisbury not only had to deal with the death of the king, but the death of its lord as well. Earl Roderick’s son, Robert, was still too young to lead the county. Roderick’s wife, Countess Ellen, would have to serve in his place until the boy came of age. But the countess’s position was fragile, with ambitious knights inside Salisbury believing they could take advantage of her perceived weakness to enrich themselves. To prevent this from happening Countess Ellen called all the knights to her court in order for them to reaffirm their fealty to the county.

    The words had scarcely left Ellen’s mouth before Vortinc stepped forward and swore his loyalty. Not wanting to be outdone by a pagan several more knights followed, including the rest of the pagan alliance. But then a shout of dissent rose up. A faction of knights refused to bow to a woman, saying that in harsh times like these Salisbury needed to be led by a strong man. Merrok marched up to the knights and began to viciously argue with them, showing the same stubbornness as when he’d argued with Bishop Dubricus. He dared the knights to show him this so-called “strong man” they claimed would lead Salisbury, but none of the knights were brave enough to declare that they should be the one to rule the county. Cowed by Merrok’s tongue lashing, and seeing that every other knight had reaffirmed their fealty, the dissenting knights gave in and swore loyalty to Countess Ellen.

 

    The countess generously rewarded the pagan alliance for their loyalty. As Vortinc had been the first knight to reaffirm his loyalty, the Countess confirmed his legal ownership of Idmiston Manor, ransomed Gadd back from the Saxons, and gave him the title of Castilian of Vagon Castle. For arguing the dissident knights into submission Merrok was promoted to a vassal knight and granted ownership of Deptford Manor. Other knights who had been quick to swear fealty, such as Gahengroen and Agragor, were granted gifts and rights to various sources of income.

 

    The pagan alliance now found itself among the most senior surviving knights of Salisbury, and trusted advisors to Countess Ellen. There would be no time to enjoy this newfound status, as chaos reigns across Logres and the Saxons march on our borders. The Anarchy has begun.

 

Obituary

Mahengroen (465-495, 30 years old): With Mahengroen’s death the last of our original trio was gone; we would be entering the Anarchy with a completely different set of knights than we had started with. Mahengroen had several bastard children, but only one legitimate son: Huongroen, who was two years old at the time of his father’s death. Mahengroen’s widow, Lady Elaine, would manage his many manors until Huongroen was old enough to become a knight. Final Glory: 4,723

 

After the session we talked about how the meeting with Countess Ellen would have gone had our original trio of Cynyrsa, Mahengroen, and Sagrar still been alive. We all agreed that they would have immediately jumped on the idea of declaring themselves the strong men Salisbury needed and attempt to seize control of the county. The Countess was definitely lucky that they all died and were replaced by much more reasonable vassals just in time for the Anarchy.

[ArkSvid]

Haven't been posting in a while as I try to let the campaign get a bit further ahead; we're still in the Anarchy, having just started the year 503.

 

But I did want to share that we accidentally have become robber knights. We didn't go out conquering with the intention of doing so, but when we tried offering the land to our lords they declined once they heard about the big Saxon counteroffensive coming to take those lands back. Except then we (barely) managed to beat that counteroffensive, meaning we now control a big chunk of land that's currently not beholden to anyone but ourselves.

[svensson]

I have a habit of playing the oddball character, the strange guy who fits the scenario in unexpected ways. For example, I'm playing in Twilight 2000 4th ed. game right now as a Polish supply sergeant. Part of that is that I'm a US Army veteran and when I play 'modern' games, I like to give the other guys a change to let their inner Rambo out. 😁 But if I were playing a KAP game, I'd almost certainly play a Pagan in Arthur's court. No matter how pious or worldly the other guys were, I'm likely to have an uncontrollable need to play a Pagan Castillian knight named 'Don Roderigo' or something, who's battle cry would be 'Cargo, Caballeros!' [loosely, 'Charge, comrades!'] or some such. I'm just that kind of weirdo... lol!

So it's a lot of fun watching your Pagans trying to let their 'Lusty' out while everyone around them is trying to be 'Chaste'.

Edited December 12, 2022 by svensson