The Bladelands Chronicles
Volume 2, Chapter 2: The First War of the Rose
“And so” the old man began “Lord Montoya lead is band to their new lands, barely aware of the great events around them at the very edge of the known world”
He paused, lifting a steaming mug to his lips, his hand shaking slightly with the effort and took a deep swig, wiped his mouth on his sleeve and belched loudly, grinning a toothless grin at his slightly repulsed audience
“The Black Rose standard was raised and it seemed that the whole land wanted it crushed into the ground from the outset. But Montoya was not entirely devoid of brains and decided that if they were to settle at this place, known locally as Waylan’s Forge, it might be sensible to seek Waylan’s permission first”
So on their first night they attempted to wake up the sleeping spirit of Waylan but his changelings and a pair of newly arrived Norse warriors contrived to bugger it up, leading to a very one way fight in which one of Waylan’s bodyguards made mincemeat of the Norsemen.”
“ That unaccomplished, they tried to solve the problem that one of their strongest warriors was in possession of an axe empowered by an Outsider with whom said warrior had made a bargain. Some of the Outsider's minions tried to stop the ritual to cleanse the warrior; while the axe itself started possessing people and making Montoya’s followers kill each other. Finally after a struggle lasting hours they managed to separate axe from warrior, but the Outsiders made off with the weapon.”
“On the following day they, decided to explore our new home, and headed up to what they hoped might be a trading house. Unfortunately, it was already inhabited by a host of foulspawn and so they fought a pitched battle, skirmishing through the forest and out onto open ground where they killed large numbers of Orcs and goblins.
With the building secure, even temporarily, the mages and priests then started investigating a severed head which had had a Taboo placed on it, preventing the Black Rose of occupying the building. After a great deal of thought and discussion Lord Montoya made the first of many fateful decisions, namely to get some lunch and marched his party back off the hill they’d captured.”
“Somewhat unsurprisingly more foulspawn had moved into the area whilst Montoya was eating so the party was forced to clear the hill again and hold the foulspawn off while the sorcerers….what?” The old man scowled at the girl raising her hand
“Weren’t they the same ones that accidentally brought someone back to life and tore a hole in reality?” she said quizzically her head to one side, and eyebrow raised
“Yes…but in this instance they avoided major metaphysical damage to fabric of space time and instead managed to remove the Taboo on the severed head, although they did nearly kill themselves in the process”
“But whilst this was going on, an orc shaman of considerable power, wielding a knife empowered by Outsiders, was directing his minions against the defenders. It took quite some doing, but eventually the shaman died and it was only by a miracle (i.e. the intervention of the Powers) that none of the party died….yes what?”
“They’re not really very good heroes are they” the girl said, her forehead creased in a deep frown “so why tell their story?”
The old man considered this for a moment “Well…there are two ways to see it, either they are a metaphor for the way we all learn and grow and become heroes in our own right.”
“Or they are a way for an old man to get a seat by the fire and a cup of Riaka” he grinned “but hear me out and you can decide”
“That evening” he continued, turning back to his audience “they met with their neighbours, the Children of the Dragon. They were, as you’ll remember, a cult of Keltoi who hated most mainlanders, who had abducted Lord Montoya and Honor at the Moot, but were the closest thing to an ally that the Black Rose had.”
“A misunderstanding early on in the talks led to the need to fight an honour duel, which resulted in Lord Montoya’s champion, Erwin, having his spirit blasted out of his body.”
The girl shook her head muttering but the old man continued unperturbed “However, once the duel was over they managed to negotiate a peace with the Dragonkin, or so they thought, and so Montoya invited them to a banquet in honour of the new found understanding”
“That night, the banquet was astounding. Food like the Ambrosia of the Powers, drink flowed like a river and a carefully orchestrated seating plan allowing lots of elaborate toasts from all the various groups present”.
“It seemed that, although they still fought against School Town, and had few allies, all was well with the world, and for a few short hours all worries were erased as the entire Fife made merry. The sun slipped over the horizon and sank, the stars came out, clear and bright and all was happiness.”
“Unfortunately the sorcerers had been drinking again and planned a spirit quest to recover the spirit of their fallen champion Erwin. With the help of one of the Children of the Dragon, they prepared to set out on their quest to the other side.
However, it was all a set-up, meaning that some of the most valuable people ended up in the spirit world without protection. The small party managed to think quickly and get out of a very sticky situation, though, by doing a deal with Magda, guardian of the spirit world which would come back to haunt them later.”
“As the dawn broke across the Fife, nothing happened but several hours later some of the Fife managed to stir themselves and discovered, to their horror, enemy forces from Schooltown had been teleporting into the local area over night. They swiftly moved to secure one of the transportation circles in the local area. This led to a protracted battle with some very well-prepared troops, which they eventually won, although not without cost, as one of the Minoans in the party was killed and many were seriously injured.”
“Realising that there was another circle close by, they then marched uphill and engaged their enemies there, too. Wave after wave of magically enhanced warriors poured out of the ritual circle and attacked. Again and again the lines of troops clashed, blades flashing, men screaming curses, crying out in pain, calling on their Powers, on their mothers on their comrades. It was clear that if this continued the Black Rose would indeed be crushed. Eventually, faced with certain defeat, Lord Montoya, and Honour agreed to a parlay, and were taken. No one had even noticed that Cornelius, now Lord Montoya’s personal sorcerer had been snatched during the fight, neither did they notice that the Xadamodians had re-directed the transport not to the parlay but to their own chapter house.
No-one knows exactly what happened next but it would seem that Rhiannon, having seen two faithful followers of the powers intervened in some way. Needless to say, no-one knows where that Chapter House once stood, and the Xadamodians took some considerable time to recover”
