The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

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Chapter Two Part Twelve

Earlier parts here

Rescue?

Leatonay has his arms and armour taken from him and Flamay asks him to give his word as a knight not to escape or cause trouble if he does then he will be allowed free roaming around the ground, 1^st and 2^nd floors of the castle, as well as the grounds and around the village. Leatony gives his word and is given his arming sword back. Flamay invites Leatony to an early breakfast and they talk about family; noble houses; magic and being a knight. Flamay tells Leatony about proper magic, knightly magic not female Fea Magic. Knights should have magic to help them not help others magic which enhances there fighting abilities. Sir Flamay offers to become Leatony’s teacher if he gives his allegiance to him as his instructor. Leatony wants to know why he took ‘Small’. The reply is “Yogi and Small together will make an interesting way to gain magic power and therefore more ability to gain power over others. Small is a child of the Forest as is Yogi and both are virgins. Both of those traits mean they can supply power to me, Sir Leatony, neither needs to die. Getting them to copulate would be best but not essential.” Sir Flamay says “I gain power from the forest rather than fear it; it is only hostile if we attack it and it is possible to live beside each other. The Forest gives me part of its magic so why fear it?” This conversation goes on for quite a time then Leatony goes for a walk to try to sort his mind.

Cam, is in Scancole city and after a nights rest goes to see Lord Lucan at breakfast. He is in the city to see the queen’s sister and check on various items. Over breakfast Cam reports on Sir Flamay and the taking of ‘Small’; Leatony and Yogi and that he is in defiance of the king. He asks for help to rescue his friends and bring the rogue to the king’s justice. Lord Lucan says that he will supply one experienced knight, Sir Gray, and two squires Morisound and Morapond sons of Sir Moribund as he thinks it will be good for them and give them the opportunity to become knights, and to get them from under his skin. He suggests that Cam talking to knights in and around the city as some of them will likely be able and willing to help.

So Cam goes a wandering using his influence, as a herald of the king, and his insight into people to find the best he can. Over the next nine hours he rides from knight to knight, house to manor seeking knights for the rescue. Eventually he has ten knights signed up each with a squire, page and two yeomen each, a decent force but now he wonders how they will be supplied. Having had a busy day Cam heads to his inn for a good night’s sleep before riding out in the morning.

Meanwhile back at the castle. Yogi having been taken to the top of the castle is now in a stone cage, a cage made from the walls of the castle by Sir Flamay. An hour after being captured a young beautiful Cook, Sarah, comes to Yogi and gives him a broth which brings him round, even if he is still left exhausted.  Sarah speaks to him, “take care, later I will bring you and ‘Small’ a handful of seeds to eat, please eat them as they will aid your escape. I will try to get ‘Small’ to realise that she is in danger here and to go with you when you call.” She then talks to ‘Small’ for a while before leaving the room. Sunrise, wakes Yogi with the sun pouring in through the broken window, Sarah brings breakfast for Yogi and Small, a bowl of potage and some water. An hour later she returns and collects the dishes and gives them both some seeds, “eat when I have left” she says as she goes. You hear her say to the guard, “they all fed and watered I will be back later to give you and them their next meal, bye.”

Yogi looks at the seeds and thinks, what has he got to lose, so eats them after saying to ‘Small’ “sorry I scared you, but I am trying to rescue you”. Yogi starts to feel strange and feels that his cage is getting bigger. Then he starts feeling that it is he getting smaller not the cage but not only smaller but changing somehow. Yogi realises that he has transformed into a bird, a bird that can just fly out of the cage. Looking over he sees that ‘Small’ has also transformed. Yogi tweets to ‘Small’ follow me and he tries to fly out of the cage. Their first flights are not that good but quickly they both get used to climbing and swopping and head out of the broken window to freedom. With ‘Small’ just behind him Yogi the bird flies over the forest and asks ‘Small’, “do you know the way back to the village?” “I am not sure but I think it’s that general direction” she tweets back. Resting often in a tree the two of them keep flying until they see a river, “that’s our river” ‘Small’ says. We need to go down the flow to our village. As they fly along, Yogi, finds out that ‘Small’ liked the fairies as they liked her unlike the other village children. So when they said she could come to their fairy castle she wanted to. She was told that a man on a horse would come to collect her as it was too far for her to walk and the fairies could fly.

Back at the castle its lunch time and the guards find out that ‘Small’ and Yogi have disappeared. Sir Flamay asks Leatony if he knows anything about this. Leatony, honestly, says “no, however I do know that that bear saved some lutons and they said that they would help him some time, maybe they have. You have used some lutons as well haven’t you” asks Leatony of his host. “Yes magicians do use the Forest spirits which manifest in different ways to aid them in their magic.”

Scancole city, early morning, Cam waits for his rescue party at the city gates. Slowly over the next half hour the knights and their followers appear, soon he has 50 armed men with him when Zephir turns up and says, “follow me”. They ride out of the city and enter the forest as they do the forest twists and twills around them and ahead they see the castle. Zephir then disappears with a cry of ‘Good luck brave knights’. Only the knights and squires have arrived at the castle the others were assumedly left back at the city. I do not know why maybe he only helps nobles.

With the castle before them the 30 men ride forward, Sir Grey asks me what my objectives are. I reply “well rescue first then punish the knight in ‘Errour’, although that might be more difficult. I tell Sir Grey that he is in charge anyway as I do not feel it’s my place to command knights. He agrees and we set forth to parley with the castle.

Fordvill; as the village comes into sight ‘Small’ and Yogi feel that they need to land quickly. So they drop down on the fields around the village and as they do they start to change back to their natural forms. As they do villagers run to them in surprise, “What; How; Where from; Small your back”. Her mother cries and hugs her. Soon the two of them are being escorted through the village collecting villagers as they go to the manor. Lady Ford is so pleased to see Yogi back but wonders where the others are. Yogi fills her in on the adventure as far as he knows it.

Leatony walks with Sir Falamay to talk to his new visitors, Sir Grey and myself. I put to Sir Flamay that he is in ‘Errour’, as he is refusing the Kings Writ. He says that he doesn’t recognise King Perseforest and so can’t be in ‘Errour’. I ask that he releases ‘Small’ and Yogi, “I don’t have them” he replies. Leatony backs him up in this saying that they disappeared this morning and we suspect Lutions. “So I have no idea where they are right now” Sir Flamay says. “Now with that out of the way, what can I do for you gentlemen?”

I enquire about the status of Sir Leatony, “He is free to go or stay but he is my prisoner under the rules of combat, isn’t that so Sir Leatony?” “Yes, indeed, Leatony replies, “However I will turn down your offer of teacher and Lord and ask what my ransom will be”. “Sir leatony, I am sad you do not want to learn magic from me however it is your choice. Your ransom is simple; you must give your word not to act against me in any way along with a pledge to send me something interesting and odd. Something of a wondrous magical nature would be good.” Leatony gives his word as a knight and Sir Flamay asks if we would all like to stay for dinner with him, Sir Grey declines, after all we have to make our own way back through the forest.

Sir Grey leads our force back to the city but Leatony and I leave the group near Fordvill to let ‘Small’s’ mother know that she has escaped and we do not know where she and Yogi are. What a surprise we have when we get there. It takes a few days to catch up with each other’s stories and for Yogi to fully heal helped by Lady Ford’s magic. We need to head to the city for me to report to Lord Lucan and the chief herald, However Leatony needs us to delay for a while as he finishes his training in magic from Lady Ford, unfortunately he doesn’t have time to learn any spells as well but at least he can now prepare to learn some as he has the basics down.

We reach the city having been given a grand send off from the village. We arrive back at Scancole city and Leatony goes to see his girl while I report to Lord Lucan and the City herald and Yogi goes fishing. Leatony meets up with Rozblack of Belin, his lady, who after saying how she had missed him and thought he had died she tells him “I have heard of a giant’s grove on Black Isle where golden fruit grows. A good noble knight would get one for his lady and her lady.” “Of course I will my love” he says and with that it seems we have a new adventure. We rest for a few days before we even think of leaving, giving Leatony time with his girl and Yogi and I time to do our thing. Some of this time we spend in thinking about our experience and training to improve ourselves.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Eleven

Earlier parts here

Leaving the Castle

Leatony casts healing on Yogi, to stop his bleeding, as we decide what to do next, we must decide quickly before the knight and his men fall on us. Leatony wants to bring Yogi with us as we leave, I try to convince him that that is bad idea as it will slow us down and leave us exposed to the enemy. It would be much better to leg it back to our horses and go for more help, I believe that the knight will take Yogi as a prisoner due to his uniqueness. However he is determined that he has to save the weak, he believes that his path of ‘Mercy’ means he has to do all he can to save Yogi, I do not think that and even though my path of ‘Glory’ pushes me to do be heroic it is not about being suicidal. I can’t budge him so I prepare to cover him with my bow and arrows while he slowly drags the very large and heavy bear towards the postern and into the wall.

Leatony slowly pulls Yogi using all his strength moving him a few meters at a time. Then I notice movement on the walls, I can make out shadows moving, must be the two wall guards we saw before. I hear them murmur to each other ‘what is going on over there? It must be the intruders. Can you see them? No can you?’ I keep an eye on the shadows with bow ready to lose. Eventually I see well enough to lose an arrow and hear a scream as it hits home. Quickly I reload as an arrow fly’s close by me, as soon as I can I let lose at the second guard with no noticeable effect. I quickly let lose another arrow and this time get a scream. Hopefully that is both of the guards dealt with.

Leatony is now near the wall entrance to the Postern gate but I see more guards coming from the kitchen door and down the steps of the tower’s first floor entrance. With four more guards heading our way I start to get worried. I snap a quick arrow of at the nearest one coming from the kitchen but miss. Two arrows fly past me from two of the guards as Leatony reaches the narrow postern bridge with Yogi.  Now Leatony needs to be very careful of Yogi will slip of the plank and drag both of them into the moat. With both in armour that will be the end of both of them.

As Leatony gets across the bridge I prepare to delay pursuit, the enemy are now charging at me as I full back into the postern gate. I try to get a shot of as the first guard enters the gate area and manage a hit. The wounded guard moves out of the way of the next who runs into me. The guard swings his hatchet at me and I parry using my bow, not the best thing to use a bow for but needs must. I wonder if we are going to end up with enemies coming at us from the other side of the moat as well. Leatony tells me that he has got over the bridge with Yogi and is waiting for me. So I try to disengage from combat and get over the bridge. I manage that with some luck and the guards do not follow onto the bridge, for now we seem to be safe but still have a long way to go dragging Yogi.

Leatony now tells me to go and get the horses so we can get Yogi on one and ride away. I am not sure he has thought this out as Yogi is not going to be able to sit on a horse as he is unconscious and must be too big to hang over a horse and trying to tie him on within bow shot of the walls seems very risky but I go to find the horses. It takes me a while to find them as it is still dark and I am not sure where in the forest we left them. By the time I find them and start back I can see the Lord of the castle, well I assume it is him, ridding towards Leatony and Yogi waving a flaming sword.

The fight is over very quickly, long before I am anywhere near to them and with horses in tow I do not have my bow ready and losing arrows into them in the dark risks hitting my friend. The first few blows are countered by parries from each of them. Then Leatony attack goes a bit wild and the knight tries to flick Leatony’s sword from his hands but Leatony holds on to it. The knight then gets past Leatony’s parry to hit his right arm but Leatony’s armour stops the blow. Then as both of them start to breath more deeply from the exertion Leatony gets an attack past the knight’s parry, hitting his leg. At the same time Leatony raises his kite shield into a passive block over his head. The knight attacks and hits the only part of Leatony hot covered by his high guard his right arm again Leatony’s armour saves him. A few more ineffective hits and blocks by both of them ends when the knight flicks Leatony’s sword out of his hand when he parries an attack. Disarmed Leatony has no choice but to yield when offered by Sir Flamay. With Leatony pulling Yogi they follow Sir Flamay round to the main gate and over the repaired bridge [read earlier parts], were members of the castle came to carry Yogi.

Seeing as I could do nothing I mounted and rode into the forest to head back to Fordvill to get help if I can and to report this knight who flaunts the king’s authority. I have not ridden long when I am hailed by an old red skinned man. I recognise him as Zephir a Luton who works for the king.

He asks me if I need help. I explain my problem and he says ‘follow me’

As we ride together the forest changes and I am suddenly in Scancole city.

‘Go and get some help’ he says ‘and I will ride with you back again.’ I report to the city herald and he advises that I go and see Lord Lucan who happens to be visiting the Kings sister here. So I head to see him.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Ten

Earlier parts here

Fight in the Tower

One guard a yeoman readies his hatchet and buckler as the other a squire picks up his already loaded crossbow, both of them calling for help, as Yogi headed across the room to ‘Small’.

The yeoman then moved to face Yogi while not getting in engagement range but blocking his path back to the window as the squire lets lose his crossbow hitting Yogi in his right leg but failing to even scratch him, both still calling out for help. Yogi picks up a screaming ‘Small’ sees that she is tied to the wall and puts her back down again and she races back into the corner still screaming.

Yogi tries talking to ‘Small’ trying to claim her down but his efforts isn’t helped by his size and crashing into the room and the yeoman and squire shouting out he’s here to eat you.

The yeoman delays, waiting for Yogi to come to him or try to pass him, while the squire starts to reload the crossbow and Yogi moves up to ‘Small’ again as she cowers in the corner.

The yeoman continues to wait while the squire carries on reloading the crossbow as Yogi grabs the rope holding ‘Small’ to the wall.

Yogi then exerts his strength and pulls to try and pull the rope free from the wall, with a crack the rope snaps and ‘Small’ screams even louder.

The yeoman continues to wait as the squire gets close to finishing loading his crossbow as Yogi tries to grab ‘Small’, however she wriggles free.

With the yeoman and squire still waiting and loading Yogi speaks to ‘Small’ again trying to claim her but again fails. He then grabs at her with both hands and holds on to a wriggling ‘Small’.

The yeoman move up to a distracted Yogi as the squire lets go a bolt from the crossbow which in his hurry misses. Yogi drops ‘Small’ again and turns to face the yeoman.

The yeoman attacks Yogi who blocks the hatchet with his arm as the squire readies his ball and chain and dagger. Yogi claws at the yeoman hits him and presses his advantage.

The yeoman falls to the floor dying as the squire, breathing heavily waits, as Yogi moves towards him the squire strikes at Yogi but the attack misses and Yogi parries with his arm.

The squire attacks again and Yogi parries again.

The squire attacks and as the blow sails pass Yogi again uses his arm to parry and tries to disarm him but the squire holds on to his ball and chain.

Yogi attacks again and the squire evades throwing himself under the nearby table, unfortunately Yogi still rips his chest open downing the second guard of ‘Small’.

Yogi then moves over to the table were ‘Small’ is hiding, pushes it over and throws it. ‘Small’ scurries away.

Yogi moves after ‘Small’ and eventually grabs her with both hands and pins her to his chest. He then moves over to the window he came in through with ‘Small’. At this point Lord Flamay arrives at the top of the stairs with others following as Yogi walks up the wall to just under the sill. Yogi transfers ‘Small’ to one arm as he pulls himself out the window however Sir Flamay hits him with his flaming sword tripping him up as he does so, the screaming ‘Small’ wriggles away as Yogi falls.

With Yogi on his back attempting to stand both Sir Flamay and a squire attack him. The knight causes a bleeding wound with his sword in Yogi’s right leg while the squire hits the same area to no effect with his hatchet.

With Yogi now on his feet the knight swings his flaming sword again which Yogi blocks as the squire hits him in the abdomen but the blade can’t get past Yogi’s armour.

Yogi counter attacks the knight and misses as the knight impales his flaming longsword into Yogi’s right leg. At this point Yogi is glad that the wounds he is taking is divided up between the three party members thanks to his spell as Leatony starts to cast healing magic on himself and Cam.

Yogi getting despite tries to cast Berserk on himself but the rush of combat means he fails as the knight attacks with his dagger which Yogi parries. The squire also attacks Yogi who again parries.

Yogi try’s to cast his Berserk divine spell again and again fails, out of action points uses a luck point, the loss of blood and having a sword in him are both starting to tell.

The knight starts to keep jabbing his dagger, with Peirce on it allowing it to ignore some of Yogi’s armour, into Yogi’s right leg increasing the injuries they are all taking.

Yogi now getting desperate pulls the flaming sword from his leg causing more injury to himself and us down below. Flamay attacks with his dagger again but has no effect even with Yogi failing to block the blow. The squire and the page change places so the squire can rest awhile,

Yogi leaps out of the window using all his athletic ability as Flamay throws his dagger which impales Yogi’s right leg. The page also manages a hit but to no effect.

Yogi is now out of the window and falling as he is slowly heading towards unconsciousness due to blood loss. He tries to grab the wall and luckily manages to stop himself at 9 meters down or up. The trouble is he is now just held on by the magic wall walking effect but incapable of moving his limbs any longer. With Yogi stuck to the wall the Lord starts to throw Disruption spells at him he gets six of them off scattered all-over Yogi’s and our bodies until Yogi falls comatose and the spell loses its effect and he falls. During this period Cam lets go a couple of arrows but they bounce of the wall as the knight is a small distant target in a window. Being unconscious his Sacred Band spell fails sparing us the damage of his fall to the ground. He lies bleeding and broken at our feet by this time Leatony has cast six healing spells on the two of us saving our lives and keeping Yogi in the fight longer.

Now we are in a pickle and need to think quickly about what to do, Yogi is too big for us to move easily and would leave us very open to any attack. Do we leave him and hope to come back later and if we do will the knight tend his wounds? All questions we need a quick answer to.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Nine

Earlier parts here

Castle Flamay

Standing in the road with village homes around us, Yogi looks like he is about to throw a spear at the guards but Leatony tells him not to. ‘We have to use peaceful means first’ he says ‘not aggression first. After all this might all be a mistake and maybe the child came here because she wanted to, we need to be careful. Although we need to return Small to her mother we need to be careful.’ So the guards shut the gate and we stand in the village for some time debating our options. Leatony wants me to call upon Sir Flamay, so I cast Voice on myself and call out in a booming voice. ‘Sir Flamay you are in error due to kidnaping, treason and other crimes against the king, hand back Small and help yourself out.’ The reply is even nosier than my Voice spell produced, in fact it boomed so load it nearly deafened us and was loud enough to cause the stone bridge to fall down. ‘I do not recognise your king’s go away’. Yogi casts Witchsight to see if there is any magic on the castle, there isn’t and we decide to fall back to the forest and decide what we are going to do but first we walk around the moat to look at the castle.

  From the forest edge we ponder what we know from our walk around. The castle is surrounded by a moat which is 3m across and 3m deep with 2m of foul water in it, so we would have to drop down 1m and climb up 1m the other side even if we can find a way across the water. It has a 4m high curtain wall around it about 30m across, raising above the curtain wall is the circular tower about 8m across and 18m high with 4 floors. Judging by the smoke we can see there is likely to be some buildings against the inside curtain wall. Thanks to Leatony’s knowledge of castles, he is a noble after all; he locates a postern door hidden in the curtain wall on the other side of the castle from the main gate. If we can work out how to get to the over side of the wall and open it Leatony says that it must have a movable bridge with it or it is useless. We have also noticed that the curtain wall is quite rough and should be easy to climb particularly for Yogi who as a bear is very good with 4 limbs at climbing.

We spend some time honing a plan, understanding it might not all go to plan, and then wait till around midnight with a half moon and a semi clear sky giving us, well Leatony and I, enough light to operate with. I then cast Mobility on Yogi to aid his climbing and Leatony casts Protection on us all. Then we move up to the moat by the Postern, Yogi runs up and at full speed jumps the moat and grabs for the wall. Success his claws find places to hold and he proceeds to quickly climb the wall and drop over the over side all very quietly.

Yogi now on the other side of the wall soon finds the entrance to the postern gate, he lifts the bar and slides the wall sideways into a slot in the wall, and this section is disguised to look like wall from the outside so hard to see. With the gate opened Yogi looks for the bridge and finds an iron reinforced wooden 1 foot wide plank in a slide under foot. He slides this out, it grates and makes some noise but with his strength he can manage without too much noise, he finds that the plank is longer than needed meaning it stays in the slides under the floor while still reaching the other side. It arrives our side slightly high which helps with clearing the bank and then drops down into the ruts we have seen in the ground.

With the plank in place Leatony crosses first then I follow him, Leatony’s armour makes some noise but not too much thankfully. I ready my bow as Yogi indicates that he can smell two guards coming around on the walls so we stay hidden were we are in the gateway and let them pass overhead hoping they will not notice the plank is out. Yogi also lets us know that the kitchen is on the ground floor as he can smell in as he tries to bring the plank in but stops as it is making too much noise. We hear the guards ask each other what that was but then they move on. Yogi then casts Sacred Band on us all and we move to the tower. We can see from here that the main way into the tower is a stone stairway up to the first floor and the way into the ground floor is under these steps.

Yogi leaves us at the bottom of the tower as he climbs up with his shield on his back. Again we hear someone say ‘what’s that’ but this comes from inside the tower and nothing seems to happen. Jogi gets to the top and rips off the shutter covering the window slit, this makes quite a bit of noise so its likely we will have been heard. Yogi enters the window and drop’s into the room he believes Small is in. He appears to be in one room with a stairway to one side with Small beside it and various tables around the walls. There also appears to be two others in this room, both armed and now ready for action.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Eight

Earlier parts here

Search for the Stolen Baby

My baby’s gone, stolen!

Lady Ford calms Bridget the mother down she tells that her daughter a dwarf child called ‘Small’ is missing. Small is 15 and a bit simple and Bridget thinks that the Goblins which she has seen around the area, when her daughter is out and about, have taken her into the wood. Lady Ford looks at Leatony and says this seems like a good quest for a good knight, He and I both agree that the poor child needs rescuing. Our first job is to see if we can find any extra information from around the village. I go to talk to villagers and find out:-

1. The Goblins always follow ‘Small’ and play with her.
2. The Goblins tented to ignore the other children and hid when adults came near.
3. The Elf’s were using magic to entertain
4. The children believe that there is a fairy castle in the woods where the Elves come from

Meanwhile Yogi and Leatony go with Bridget to get something Small wore so Yogi can use his bear sense of smell to track her. They then move out from the home following her scent trying to find where she disappeared from. After five hours we met up for lunch at the manor and compare notes. It appears that Leatony and Yogi have checked that ‘Small’ isn’t in a barn or fallen down a well but have managed to find the place Small went into the forest, Yogi smelt her there along with a horse and a human, he realised that trying to track the Goblins was impossible being spirit creatures. We are given rations for our quest and with Leatony and me riding we follow Yogi’s nose as he follow the scent.

Leatony and I try to help Yogi track but Leatony sends him off track and then we hear a girl call ‘help me please’. However although we search for an hour we can find no one, Leatony assumes it was a Luton trick. Yogi gets us to stop helping him and picks up the scent again. We follow him twisting through the forest through clearings and cross brooks, up and down hills and onwards. Then suddenly as we go through a clearing I am surprised by my horse being attacked from behind.

A giant Trapdoor Spider has popped out of the ground and attacked my horse, luckily not me, I was last in the column so the most likely target I suppose. My horse is trapped between the front legs of the very large, horse sized spider and tries to break freed as I slide off its side. The spider bites and injects poison as Yogi who heard the spider popping its trapdoor readies his spear and shield as he walks back to Leatony who doesn’t know anything has happened as yet.

I ready my flail and buckler, as Yogi moves up the side of my horse to the spider, who moves away from the horse to let its poison do its work. Leatony moves his horse up to mine and trying to cast a healing spell onto it but the horse bolts now it’s not held by the spider nearly knocking Yogi over and causing a miscast for Leatony.

I change to my bow and start to grab an arrow as Yogi throws his spear at the spider hitting its front left leg impaling it and causing a serious wound. The spider seems unfazed by Yogi’s spear in its leg and looks to be getting ready to slide away.

I am still loading while Yogi moves forward readying his second spear as the spider jumps back and scuttles away into the trees, none of us fancy chasing after it.

We find the horse and Leatony again try’s to heal it but it takes a few tries I then try to deal with the poison in it. It takes me a while to find some fresh herbs etc. to make a poultice and a drink for the horse. Once they are ready I apply the poultice to its hindquarters and make it drink the cure. I think that this should fend off the effects of the poison.  Once the horse is ready I remount and we continue our quest.

We continue our tracking into the afternoon, with time getting on we could end up out here over night if not careful. As we travel through a wooded gorge we each feel our minds being attacked by a fear of the forest around us. We shake it off and see three Bogle’s on the hill above us, they must have tried to ensorcelled us. Yogi responds with a roar and bearing of teeth and claws at the Bogals, this doesn’t seem to faze them at all. I dismount as the Bogle’s cast again and cause damage to Leatony’s right arm the other two spells fail. Leatony pushes his horse up the slope to get to a Bogle.

Yogi moves up the slope as well and I prepare to block as I try to get up the slope as well. The Bogle’s try to retreat but Leatony hits one as it does so, dispelling it the other two vanish into the forest. Leatony heals himself with his magic and we look around and can see in the direction the Bogles attacked from a tower to the east over the trees. This must be where we need to go and Yogi says that he can smell ‘Small’ from that direction.

We head in that direction and come across a village just along a track leading to the castle and moat. It consists of 15 homes with small gardens for kitchen food; the locals heard their children indoors and shut the doors on us. The castle is just ahead the curtain wall is around 4m high and about 30m across, the moat is 3m across and 1m below the bank and is 2m deep and foul. The circular tower inside is about 8m across and 18m tall all of four floors; it has a bridge over the moat leading to a double gate. Yogi thinks that ‘Small’ is on the top of the tower by the smells he can follow. There are two guards on the gate after the bridge who when they see us go to shut the gates.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Severn

Earlier parts here

Fordvill

With the apple in the lady’s hands she went to her husband and gave it him to eat piece by piece. Although he is still weak within hours he started to show an improvement as his body healed and recovered. Over the next couple of days he shows a marked improvement in his health as we train with each other and learn from the Lady a bit of Faee magic. I am learning the spell Vigor to help with the fatigue from working hard, Yogi is learning Witchsight to enable him to see active magic; magic items and invisible creatures. While leatony is learning how to manipulate and shape Faee magic so he can start to weld more powerful magic.

A few days later as we take a stroll around the village as we have done most days in-between our studies; as we walk near the growing field we hear the shouting of villagers and can see them hacking at something on the ground. It seems some vines have come from the forest and are infesting the field with spores, they are struggling to get close enough to attack the vines and two farmers have been taken down already. We only have our sidearm with us and no armour, however as luck would have it Trist is near by exercising the horses and he does that with full kit on them, so he has Leatony’s Kite shield to hand as well as Yogi’s spears grabbing what they both want we move into the field to see what is what.

The filed has been invaded by three spidery spiky vines which attack anyone coming near, they are not moving much but are slowly encroaching on the field. We think that fire might be needed so send Trist to my gear to get my oil and some more from the manor along with some torches. We also call upon the locals nearby to go and get oil and torches and go to see what we can do. We move up to the first vine, it is big but assumedly a spirit possessed plant and we need to drive the spirit out of it. Getting close will be tricky as it has one foot thorns and stabs at anyone trying to close in. However we are heroes and so must do our best to protect the field.

We move up to the first vine which stabs at me as we close, I parry the plant and manage to over extend it earning me a respite from its attack. Leatony swings his longsword at the plant but misses, how I do not know, while Yogi delays he has a cunning plan.

I swing my flail at the vine hit it and again put myself into position so the vine cannot attack me, however my flail doesn’t manage to harm it.  We suspect cutting weapons will be of more use. The vine stabs at Leatony who parries the blow with his shield. Yogi delays again and Leatony manages to slice into the vines body with his sword.

I attack again, again with no effect, while the vine strikes at Leatony again but fails to land any spike. Yogi at last strikes with his claws ripping into the vine and pulling it apart. The vine visibly shakes and stops moving, one down it seems.

We move up to the next vine and I hold my attack this time. Yogi rips with his claws again pulling parts of the vine away, then Leatony swings and causes the vine to leak sap. The Vine attacks Yogi and flails wide so I parry it for him but also fail as the vine and my flail swing in the air.

Yogi hits again ripping more sap from the vine, followed by Leatony who misses, again! The vine flails at Yogi with no contact and this time I manage to parry it with my flail.

Yogi then finishes off with another ripping claw attack. Two down and no injuries to us so far.

The last vine attacks Yogi as we get into position around it, it misses Yogi who parries it and again pulls it into a position where it can’t attack him again. I delay, taking Yogi’s cunning plan for my own, as Yogi counter-attacks ripping his claws through the vine. Leatony manages an impressive strike with his sword hacking deeply into the vine.

The vine attacks Leatony with an impressive move but Leatony is lucky and manages to parry the blow. Without the luck Leatony could well have taken a serous wound. Yogi attacks again but this time his claws have no effect but it does allow Leatony to get another good slice in.

The vine strikes at Yogi and would have hit if I had not quickly parried it. Unfortunately as I parry the vine whips around Yogi’s left arm holding it. Yogi breaks free with his great strength before the thorns can be pulled into his arm. Leatony then slices his sword into the extended vine and this vine spasms and falls still, that’s all three down.

We get the locals to drag the dying vines off the field and collect any spores and with the oil burn it all. However I collect a few spores to put into a stoppered clay container to send off for studying. We are cheered by the villagers who collect their dead and go back to their normal daily activities. We return to the manor and get on with our studies. Some days later around midday, by which time Yogi and I have learnt our spells, a mother comes rushing into the manor.

My baby’s gone, stolen!

Lady Ford calms the mother down, Bridget, the mother, tells us that her daughter a dwarf called ‘Small’ is missing. Small is 15 and a bit simple and Bridget thinks that the Goblins which she has seen around the area, when her daughter is out and about, have taken her into the wood. We need to be quick to go and talk with other villagers to see what they know before heading into the woods.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Six

Earlier parts here

Knights, Lizards and Kingfishers

As we head to the village of Ford Leatony talks with the Lady, he asks what she might know about the Green Archer and his men and about magic. She says that she is sure that the bandits were under his control rather than wanting to be there. The Green Archer is a tainted person with a chaos ability from the Forest. That is how he got my knights to kill each other; Leatony says that must have been what had tried to get him to attack Yogi. Yes says the Lady, it requires a stronger mind that the Simples have indeed you must have a better mind than my knights did as well. It also turns out that she knows Leatony’s grandmother so he can talk magic with her as well; he mentions his desire to learn more about magic and more than just a few folk spells. She listens and takes all of this in as he does with her wisdom.

The road to the village winds its way through the forest, we come to a bend and as Leatony rounds it… ‘Dear Lady I Griant-de-agot will free you from this knave,’ is shouted at him as said knight bears down on him with levelled lance. Leatony has little time to react and so throws up his shield to parry the blow, lucky for him the knight hasn’t the space to get up to full charge speed so he can manage a parry. The knights lance comes straight at him and at the moment before it hits Leatony he pushes it away with his shield. Then the words of the knight impact on his mind and he shouts back ‘you are to late I have already saved her from the bandits, ask the Lady herself if you doubt me.’ The Lady confirms this fact and Sir Leatony and Sir Griant exchange titles and pleasantries before he rides off into the forest; we notice from the side of our eyes something disappearing from the trees above us to the left. Maybe he had some men up there or was it magic? I do not know.

The rest of the journey to Fordvill is uneventful and we arrive late in the day, the Lady arranges for us to be billeted and the horses cared for but more importantly care for her husband who is in need of care and pain relief. After all is set and prepared we join the Lady for supper Yogi and I sit on a lower table while Leatony sits on the upper table, the Lady has her husband’s empty seat to her right, she asks Yogi to sit there he responds he is not worthy but she says the house is honoured to have a divine and a talking bear in it a rare honour. So Yogi joins her and she asks about his history and how he hears from his god. She also talks to the rest of us but mainly to Yogi as he is close so she doesn’t need to shout.

As the meal comes to an end the Lady quiets the talk in the hall, I am in debt to these three men who saved me and my husband so I must reward them. I can offer each of you the teaching of a Fae Spell or for Leatony the learning of the skills of casting and shaping more powerful spells. We chat with the Lady about what she can teach us and I choose to learn Vigor a spell to help combat fatigue when working hard, Yogi takes Witchsight to enable him to see active magic; magic items and invisible creatures. Leatony decides to advance his magical studies and asks to learn how to cast and manipulate more powerful spells. This training will take from a week to a month so we will be here for a while. The lady then says her husband wishes to reward them as well and will give us a couple of Gentle privileges or a mix of Simple and Gentle. After a discussion we decide to take two Gentle requesting two Heater shields and a battle axe, the shields are for Yogi and Trist, Leatony’s page, and the battle axe is for Trist as well, Leatony takes a Heavy Crossbow for himself. We head for bed and some rest knowing that we will be here for some time.

We break are fast next morning and the Lady when she joins us looks worried she ask Leatony to join her and says ‘Good knight could you help me? My husband is in a bad way and isn’t healing or responding and is declining. I only know of one way that he will recover from his injuries, I need you dear knight to get a pink apple from the tree on Lizard Isle. The apple will restore my love to health again. Would be grant me this mercy?’

Leatony says he will as she continues ‘the apple will retain its properties for up to a week getting less potent each moon rise so haste is needed once you have it.  Follow the river north for a day or so, don’t leave the river as you will get lost in the forest.’ Leatony comes to inform us of our new mission to aid this Lady. I decide that it would be a good idea to find out what the local villagers know about this Lizard Island. I find out that it is up the river as we have been told and is a wonder and that along with the pink apple there are other apple on the tree. It is guarded and looked after by a family of talking Lizards, the river is from 2m wide to 6 or more with wide flood plains beside it and the odd island in it. By morning we leave the village with Leatony, Trist and myself on horseback and Yogi walking. We take 6 days food and a few other supplies with us.

We follow the river on its left bank as it twists and turns and widens and narrows. After a while the river ahead seems to go in a loop and we can shorten the journey by cutting across the loop through the brush saving hours. However we remember the Lady’s warning about leaving the river and entering the forest so we take the long way. After we have gone further and it did take us longer it starts to get dark so we camp for the night. We arrange for Yogi to do the middle night watch as he can see in the dark while I and Leatony do either side with Trist being with Leatony. The night is peaceful well as peaceful as any night in the nosy forest can be, but we are not disturbed by any hostile actions by the forest.

We move off after sunrise and breakfast, and within a few hours we see the island ahead of us. We stop and Yogi offers a prayer to the Swordbrother for us as we want to engage with the lizard men by diplomacy rather than force. He gets a picture of a knight kneeling before an elder person, which we take to mean that Leatony must knell to the Lizard elder with courtesy. We move on up the bank with the island to our right. It is not a long island but big enough for a small group to live on with trees for shade and two rises one to south and one to the north. The apple tree is set on a rise to the north of the island; it has many apples on it red and green and one small pink one. The island has walking lizards and we can see some female and young along with a male guard by a walkway over the river. Leatony approaches and bends to his knees and announces himself and the party and our mission that he seeks a Pink Apple for a Lady to save her dying husband and Lord. The elder waves his hands around and speaks something we do not understand. A female comes up to him and casts a spell, Leatony can then understand the elder and vice versa. The elder asks Leatony to repeat what he said as now he will understand, Leatony does so.  The elder says that it is normal for gifts to be given for such a prize, after discussion we offer Trist’s hatchet, a spear and me to tell stories. This seems to be a fair trade and we are invited to join the family in a meal and storytelling.  We cross the bridge onto the island as some more lizards swim up to see what’s going on, another female, male and two young ones. Another female casts a spell on the whole group so that we can understand each other as we talk and tell stories. As I tell the stories I cast Ventriloquism to enhance the telling but forget they only understand what’s in our minds not what I throw so I drop the spell when they look at me. After my tales of bold knights the elder talks about the apples. It appears that the Green apples will restore some fatigue once it is eaten while the Red apples will restore body damage. He also tells us that as the tree is a wonder anyone touching it has some of their magical energy restored to them, very handy for his females who use magic.

We go and get the Pink apple and 4 Green apples so that we can move quickly to get the Pink apple to Lady Ford. By midday we are ready to leave and head back to the village, I cast mobility on Yogi so he can keep up with the horses as we jog onwards and Pathway on our horses and Yogi. After a short time we hear the voice of a women crying out ‘help me please help, don’t leave me.’ Leatony has no choice but to answer her call for help so we give Yogi the Pink apple and all the Green ones and tell him to run on to the village while we help the lady. As Yogi breaks into a run and disappears down the river bank we turn and enter the forest.

As we follow the calling of the lady we nearly lose sight of each other as the forest affects our perception but luck helps us to realise its happening and we move closer together. As we near where the voice is leading us to we suddenly hear a very high pitched giggling. It seems we have been the victims of a annoying luton. We try to work out the way back to the river but neither Leatony or I can work it out, it seems we are lost in the forest. We could do with Yogi and his forest sense senses, as we saying that Trist says he can still hear the sound of the Kingfishers by the river. He had been listening to them all this time as he enjoyed the sound, so he leads us back to the river by following their sound, cleaver lad.

 We head back down the river to the village, once we get their Yogi tells us his part of the story. He ran hard and although very tired by the time he got to the village and gave the apple to the Lady. He is still recovering while having a snack when we arrive at the village.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Five

Earlier parts here

Bandit Camp

Battle is on, Yogi charges after the nearest bandit fleeing from him but the bandit he claws at manages to avoid both claws and keep running along with all the others running from a berserk bear screaming at them. I let go an arrow at the Green Archer, the leader I think, hitting him in the left arm past his buckler parry for no effect. Leatony rides after the fleeing bandits going south of us, spearing one down as he goes. Yogi feels the mind effect of the Green Archer telling him to attack the knight, Yogi later tells us that he heard the Sword Brother telling him to ignore the voice in his head. Odd considering he often hears the Sword Brother in his head. The Green Archer lets go an arrow at Leatony which bounces off his armour.

The bandits continue to run as I move back behind cover to reload.

Yogi becomes aware of movement and sounds from the big tent near him to the north, just as 6 bandits come out in formation 3 spears in front of 3 archers. Looks like they aren’t running Leatony lances another bandit as they continue running, he nears the wood in the south. The Green Archer moves to join his battle line as I move out of cover with a readied bow.

Yogi moves into the spear line in front of him prepared to parry any attack. Instead the archers all let lose at him all 3 hit but his thick hide and armour protect him the spears just stand prepared to defend. I let lose at the Green Archer and this time I stick an arrow into him, that will slow him down a bit. He shoots back at me with no effect.

Yogi attacks the middle spearman, the three working together cause Yogi to lose an action, his attack is wild and the spearman steps back causing Yogi to overextend himself. Yogi is now attacked by the 3 archers and the 3 spearmen. The arrows all bounce of his armoured body and he uses his ability to parry to block the only spear which gets close to hitting him. I draw another arrow, as Leatony moves his horse slowly towards Yogi. The Green Archer pulls the arrow out of his body doing more damage but clearing the hindrance to his moving.

Two of the spear attack Yogi and he ends up with a spear damaging his right leg but thanks to his Sword Brother Band of Brothers effect only takes a small cut while Leatony and I take some as well.

I manage a lucky hit on the Green Archer in his right leg slowing him again,

Yogi attacks the middle spearman again this time not only killing him but also grabbing his spear. The last two spearmen impale Yogi with their spears into his left arm and right leg. Again Leatony and I take some of the damage keeping him fighting but us starting to suffer. The Green Archer runs for it disappearing into the large tent.

Yogi kills the last two spearmen as the archers run for it.

With 7 bandits dead and all the rest fleeing Leatony dismounts from his flagging horse, Yogi pulls the spears out of himself causing damage to all of us and runs into the tent after the Green Archer. Leatony uses his magic to heal his wounds taken from Band of Brothers then he does the same for me. He then goes into the tent and finds a naked lady and naked man, he looks badly beaned and she looks distraught. It turns out that they are Lord and lady Ford from the village, their knights were killed by each other and they were captured by the bandits. Leatony covers her up and frees them, he casts heal on both to ease their pain and discomfort a bit even though the injuries are to bad for any healing from the spell. I try to track Yogi and see where he went to, I fail, I suspect due to the Mobility spell I cast on us it has protected him from leaving fur on branches which he snacks’.

Later Yogi tells me this story; He chased after the leader and caught him quickly due to his superior speed and the Mobility spell. Then he felt he needed to help the man and picked him up and carried him for a while to a stream where the bandit told him to put him down so he could drink and tend his wounds. He then asks me to hunt and bring him some food, so I went into the forest. As he got further away from the bandit the influence weakens and with the Sword Brothers help he breaks free of the influence and heads back to us. Deciding that going back after the bandit would mean he would lose control again so he doesn’t.

At the camp we put the Lord into a hand cart and attach a Sumpter to pull it the other handcart we put all the armour which we find, all claimed by Lord Ford along with the 5 horses. There is to much here for us to take with us and we don’t want to leave a base for the bandits if they come back so I, as its beneath Leatony, pull things apart and ready it for burning. This takes me some hours and just as I am finishing Yogi turns up. I knew he would although I was concerned for him. With all ready we set fire to the camp and head back to Fordvill.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Four

Earlier parts here

Fordvill, Goblins and Bandits

Another day another road, this one leads to Fordvill the forest has reached up to the edge of the road here, it will need cutting back before the road is endangered. When we get to the village we need to get the local villagers to do it. We reach the village, a while later, it is a tidy small place with crops in the fields and animals on the pasture; we ask where the lord is.  We are told that their lord and lady are away and we will need to talk with the reeve. We find him at the manor and he turns out to be very stubborn, saying he can’t do that till the lord comes back. I wave my Kings Writ at him but he remains stubborn so I go into full out Herald using all my influence and reputation to change his mind, helped by Leatony casting his Thick Skinned spell on me. It takes a while but eventually, with me constantly looking at Yogi and Sir Leatony, he gives in and says he will send out groups next day to cut and burn.

The reeve now very humble and contrite asks us to stay overnight, which we do, and informs us that the road to the next village of Flameval is often blocked by bandits from the forest, this looks like a good chance to get some glory and impress my betters. The evening meal is plan simple fare, not what Sir Leatony would have expected or got if the lord was here, however he holds his tongue and accepts the plan food he is given.

That Night – A very small goblin comes and wakes Yogi and says to him ‘entering the forest will bring danger and victory; not entering the forest will bring danger and loss’. Then he walks away whistling as he goes, Yogi gets up to follow him but by the time he gets outside all is chaos. The goblin has joined other goblins overturning things, opening gates to animal pens and causing mischief waking the whole village. Yogi goes back to wake the rest of us and the reeve, we all grab our weapons and armour. However we can’t, it all seems to be stuck to the ground even swords stuck in their scabbards. I think that the goblin has been up to mischief and used magic to bind them together. I say that I can use my Folk spell to disperse the effect one item at a time. However Yogi says he can do the whole building in one go, which he does. We go back to sleep leaving the villagers to sort their mess out.

 We decide in the morning that Yogi’s warning means that we should find the bandits by entering the forest rather than taking the risk of being ambushed. We leave Leatony’s page behind with one sumpter horse and any things we do not need. I ride the other sumpter horse beside Leatony. Yogi casts Behold onto the goblin that left the message, lucky for him his spells finds him and there is the bandit camp being watched by the goblin. The camp appears to have a guard with 3 guard dogs and is large enough for up to twenty or so people. With the direction in his mind Yogi navigates us into the forest and towards the camp. As he does so I cast Pathway on horses and people so that we will not be slowed down by the forest and its trickery.

The second hour of our trip brings a near miss as we notice a wasps nest on the path which we could have easily hit and been troubled by. Then the forest manages to get us lost and turned around and we need to rest to recover from fatigue. After 5 hours or so we reach the area of the camp and can hear and smell it ahead. We seem to have ended coming at it from the opposite direction to that we were traveling, the forest again we suppose. Yogi casts Band of Brothers on us all along with Berserk on himself and Ture Weapon on Leantony’s lance. I cast Pathway and Mobility on us all as well as Leatony’s horse and Leatony casts Protection on his horse and all of us.  We move up to the edge of the trees; Yogi runs into the camp looking for a target while snarling waving his arms with spears in his paws trying to intimate the camp, which he seems to do quite effectively. I walk in and look around ready to let lose arrows. Leatony gallops his horse in to the camp aiming at the leader he makes out. He sees that this man has a massive bulge on the left side of his head. Leatony suddenly feels that he should be attacking the bear but with that luck that rides with heroes he manages to throw that thought off.

The Amassing chronicles of the Herald Cam Woodmonger

Chapter Two Part Three

Earlier parts here

The Forest and the Tree

Next morning our plans change as Leatony says we should get rid of the body of the tainted monster rather than leave it around for carrion to eat and spread the taint. Sir Helfer sends some of his villagers to help and with Yogi hauling firewood they build a bonfire around the monster and we turn it to ash. Mind you Sir Helfer did want the other tusk from it for his wall. With another day done with we retire to the manor for supper and sleep. Over supper Sir Helfer, mentions that he wants the forest pushed back from around the shed area opening the road up more and allowing new land for farming. Now that the evil has been put to rest seems a good time to do this. He would like us to stay and provide protection for his villagers.  We agree, after all that was part of our mission and something both I and Sir Leatony are beholden to do.

Sir Helfer has two sweet twin daughters, Hellive and Helline, his wife died giving birth to them. With no son’s he has no heir and villagers have been leaving as he doesn’t have men to defend them. Sir Helfer will offer one of his daughters to Leatonay to stay on as his son-in-law. The twins [16] both with long black hair and green eyes are identical and are looked after by a simple old woman called Janyne. She has looked after them since birth and all three are attached to each other. Sir Leatonay is flattered but says he thinks his grandmother has other things in mind at this time, however if things turn out differently he will bear the offer in mind. Due to his charming curtesy no one took offence.

The clearing will take up around 4 weeks, Sir Helfer tells us, and all we need to do is be in the area to protect the villagers. So, Leatony takes the time to get me and Janyne to teach him to read and write or at least start to. Yogi gets Leatony to help him improve his spear use while I make use of teaching Leatony to get Janyne to help me learn how to teach properly. The twins keep watch with us enjoying the company as the days go by. Slowly the forest is hacked back past the shack with the twigs and scrub burnt on a couple of large fires with the logs taken back to the manor for future use.

One day in the third week we hear shouting and see the people running towards us. Following them is a “tree trunk” 15’ long, the pale grey sapwood showing beneath, and branches stick out from the trunk like sharp spikes. With a pair of strong but stubby legs at its base and with forelimbs which are the raptorial forelimbs of a praying mantis. A slab of wood forms a cruel mockery of a face, a mask-like structure with two eyeholes. On all fours it approaches with the bodies of two villagers on it’s branches. I move fast and load my bow and then let lose at the forest tree, my arrow hits its mask face and I rapidly reload. The tree stands upright on its hind legs swinging it’s forelimbs to smash a peasant down. Yogi runs to help a villager who has fallen over, picking him up at the run and bringing him back to the fires. Leatony, having mounted, moves to be able to charge at the tree.

The tree moves sideways to line up with Leatony while I hold my next shot.

I let go of my next arrow which thuds into the right rear leg of this thing, neither arrow seems to have slowed it down or hurt it, as the tree continues to move toward Leatony. Yogi throws his spear with all his strength aiming at its mask and sinking the spear in deep, as Leatony pushes his horse forward and as he passes the tree stabs at it with his mighty lance. He also chooses to hit it in its mask ripping a gouge across it.

Seeing my arrows have little effect I wonder about fire arrows as the tree moves after Leatony. As it does so Leatony turns his horse and jabs at the mask face again. This time smashing into it deeply, the tree shutters and falls apart into a trunk and various branches all ready to go for firewood.

It seems Sir Halfer was right to have us watch the clearance as without us more than three villagers would be dead in fact the whole village could have been wiped out. Yogi tells us that this was just a small version of a forest tree spirit, just as well is all I can say. Leatony is treated as the hero he is by the twins and the village. I know that without the spear of Yogi already in it Leatony might have had more trouble. However from everyone else’s point of view he was the one and is treated as such. Sir Helfer offers us all a reward, I take tuition in teaching for two weeks; Yogi takes a red-kite and 24 chickens; while Leatony takes trade goods worth 300 slivers and gives it to the families of the dead villagers, getting more cheers.

After the work is done and the forest has been pushed back we head back to the city.  I take the leather journal of the Skanjar to Sir Abrofar the Scancole city herald. He wonders what a Northman is doing so far south and on his own as well, we know he was looking for a motherlode but was it iron ore, silver or gold? Maybe we need to be on the alert for any raids; he will let the place know and see if we can get some miners to go and have a look. Leatony tries out his writing skills by sending his first letter home to his beloved sister and another to his beloved lady. Both surprisingly turn out passable.