Awaking to the pale sunlight that penetrated into the run-down district of Shadows, Crispian pulled on his trews and tunic and made his way down to the innkeep.


"I need hot water brought up to the room," he said, avoiding looking at the leering face of the small, scarred man. "And I'll be leaving shortly, so hurry on that," he said harshly as he went back up to the room.


The lad slumbered on, and Crispian wrote a short note on a parchment scrap.


"Drink the tea to help with your hang over. Pack and leave. Tannir at the Defender's guild will set you lodging there if you give him this token." He slid his seal ring off and laid on the side board, with a pouch of coins, heavy with gold. "Settle your debt with the keeper here. I shall return to Camelot soon."


He donned his armor and left, stopping to collect his cloak, sword and helm before leaving for Cornwall.


His head was clear of the defuddlement, but still his thoughts were not fully in order, and his rage was unchecked.

 

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Kerriann stood quietly in Cornwall as she watched Crispian straighten his shield on his arm. She sighed as he walked toward her direction with a sadness in his eyes.


"M'lord" Kerriann smiled as she sat on the steps into Cornwall Station. The ground still damp of morning dew.


"Kerriann, might I ask why it is you are here?" he asked with a strangeness in his voice.


"I am here to see you M'lord, as well as my young sister Tatyanna, to check on your welbeing. I assume from your expressions you still are in deepest thought?" She asked as she made room for Tatyanna on the steps.


"I am Lady Kerriann. I still am, at this time, working the past days events in my head trying to make some sense of it all as well as to use it to my best advantage." Crispian said as he smiled at Tatyanna.


"M'lord, if I can do anything, please ask. We are, are we not, your family?" Tatyanna smiled are stood to straighten her Darkness Falls Hauberk.


Crispian sighs with a slight grin across his face. "es Taty." he says quietly.


"Go meet with Lord Darnyk for hunting of the evils that consume Albion M'lord. Tatyanna will assist you, I must now ride to the distance Castle Savauge where I shall meet friends to remove the filth camping our frontier keep."


Kerriann waves as she rides down the hill enroute to Savauge. Deep in her throughts, she forgot to jump at the Avalon Marsh Station and instead finds herself at Caer Ulfwyc. While there, Lords Asotrem and Kromly are preparing for Cornwall.


"M'lords, we are in need of help at Castle Savauge, if you are coming please alert Lord Verberg as he is leading the C.S. Defense." Kerriann, pretending she had come for them, mounts the horse toward Cornwall to then backtrack to Savauge.


"I will alert Lord Senig as well as the others as to whats happening Lady Kerriann!" Asotrem yells as she gallops away on horseback.

The young lad awoke, his head pounding mercilessly. He winced in the wan morning light and rolled over. The other half of the cot was cool to the touch and he frowned. He THOUGHT the warrior-lad had enjoyed himself.


Slowly, with many a grimace, he climbed out of the cot and noticed the scrap of paper. Squinting at it, he read the message and look at the ring. It was heavy, of gold, and clearly a signet. He had not noticed THAT last night. He drank some tea and looked at the pouch. Slowly, he worked the ties open. Inside, gleamed gold.


He sat heavily on the cot. In the two years he had been in Camelot, spending most of them here at the Mermaid Inn, never had anyone done anything like THIS. The purse contained more gold than he had ever dreamed of, and enough to buy him out of this place.


Reclining, he considered the offer. A handsome sum of gold. Quartering somewhere other than this flea-bitten hovel. A chance to break free, to pursue his dreams and wishes. The ring rolled on his finger, and his thoughts strayed to the blond warrior of last night.


Considering the people who came here, he had been exceptional. Quiet, kind, gentle, certainly handsome, if boyish. With a lazy grin, Tobyas indulged his recollection fully, running the course of events over in his mind, slowly. When he had finished, he cleaned himself and the chamber up, sliding the ring into his boot top and went down the stairs.


The room was crowded already, with the besotten and dregs of town. He walked to the bar, and set the pouch down, lighter by a few coins. "Take this," he said to the innkeep, whose wide, scarred grin he would never endure again, "and I am free. Five year contract paid in full and then some."


"er fadder owt me fifty crown gold, boy," the innkeep managed around a mouth of bad teeth and stale mutton. His permanent sneer failed, though, as he looked into the purse, and the gold within. "Wad ye do, boy? Kill't your tumble last night, didja?"


Tobyas drew himself up straight and tall. "Never speak to me again, sirrah, and pray I see you not on the street!" he snapped and turned heel, leaving.


The wretched stink of the street, used as a sewer by the miserable who dwelt about, greeted him. Stepping cautiously about, he made his way out of the district, passed the Guild of Shadows complex. Eating sweet-nuts he made his way around town, buying some fine leather armor to look more proper and even dunking his head in a fountain.


It was late morning when he entered the Defender's guild, asking about Tannir. He made way up the stairs and found the one who fit what he had been told. With a slight bow, he greeted him. "ou are Tannir? I am Tobyas. I was told to give you this," he handed over Crispian's signet, "and that you would see to lodgings for me?"


Tannir eyed the ring suspicously, knowing Crispian had never taken it off in his presences. "Where did ye come by that?" he asked as his fist closed meaningfully on the hilt of his sword, sliding it free a few inches. "What have ye done with Lord Crispian?" His eyes hardened with killing rage.


"Easy, Tannir," Tobyas spread his hands wide in front of him, smiling as he offered the parchment scrap. "our Lord will come by no harm from me, I pledge it."


Tannir snatched the paper off-handed and read it quickly. "I can see to my lord's wishes of lodgings for ye," he ventured cautiously.


Tobyas's smile widened. "My thanks. Are you - ah - special to Lord Crispian?" His heart was racing, pounding in his temples. Tannir was cute, he admitted to himself.


"No more so that another of the League. I am his Squire here in town, and he my Liege." Tannir said rather formally, noticing the blush on this newcomer. "Let me get you that room," he said as he turned away from Tobyas, wondering what circumstances had been in his meeting Crispian, and not wanting to know.


Tobyas followed Tannir to the small room selected and eased himself down onto a fresh, clean cot. "My thanks," he said, both to Tannir, and the strange young LORD (he grinned) who had helped him so.

Azi stood quietly in the stable of Cornwall Station, just out of sight of her guild sisters, Tatyanna and Kerriann. She brushed a strand of golden blond hair from her face, smoothed her robes in nervous habit, and stepped back into the shadows. Normally she would have happily rushed to hug her dear new friends, but she thought the better of it as a large armored man strode up to the two. Azi glanced at the shield on his arm and the gleaming armor and knew instantly it must be Crispian. Although she hadn't yet been formally introduced to him in person, she had heard her sisters talk in hushed tones of his recent plight. Azi thought it best to stand in the shadows of the stable and not make her presence known at this time.


Their exchange was too quiet to hear, but seemed pleasant enough. Azi blushed at the thought of eavesdropping anyway. She always seemed to find herself in the most awkward situations. Just this morning she was making her way to the Academy to study when she caught a glimpse of Crispian, although she hadn't known it was him at the time, leaving one of those filthy taverns. Azi had smiled at him in passing and lowered her eyes shyly, wondering what such a strapping warrior would have been doing in a place like that anyway.. She wouldn't have even passed through that way normally, but she had been bullied too many times on her normal route by former classmates, and had been planning to enter the library early this morning through a less conspicuous door.


Shifting her weight and lifting her robes away from the manure, Azi thought back to later that morning. She was pleased with herself having finally mastered her latest Liquification. With her head lowered she mouthed the incantation while making her way out of the city. A handsome young lad passed her, leaving the same tavern in seemingly high spirits. He turned into the street before her and turned into a shop. Azi made a few stops along the way, and later saw the same lad enter the Defender's guild as she passed on her way out of the city.


Azi had spent the ride to Cornwall Station wondering what on earth was going on between that filthy tavern and the Defender's guild..and standing only a few yards away was the man who could answer her quandry. "Blast my shyness, and politeness," she muttered under her breath.


Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming her way, and Kerriann's voice booming "...filth camping our frontier keep." Azi's heart pounded as she ducked behind a horse. She saw Kerrian's large armored feet clump past toward the stable hand. Azi held her breath as Kerriann threw herself up on to the horse and rode away, and released it slowly as she stepped gingerly around a fresh steaming mound of dung.


She lowered her robes and headed down the road away from the Station, leaving Tatyanna behind her. Thinking of the fun she'd have with the young skeletal centurions and her latest icy blast, she cleared her mind of matters she was too young to be involved with.


(OOC aside- I hope you don't mind, Crispian, but your story is so compelling I've been thinking about it since I read it yesterday. I thought this would be a good way to introduce Azi to the boards as well as bump the post and ask for more!)

Moryan had alot on her mind. When didn't she these days? She was on her way to Cornwall to speak to Lynx about refitting her new epic armor. Some dumbarse had slapped it together haphazardly, and it was too bloody tight in the hauberk, she could barely breathe sometimes when she swung her left hand.


"Bloody idjits," she swore under her breath. And then there was this matter with Crispian. After exchanging some letters, she'd come to find out he was under some sort of enchantment or some such rot. What the fark did a mercenary wench know about things like that? She told him he ought to seek out Dru. If anyone could find a cure, it would be her. After all, she got Earthwulf to refuse drink, and Excelsius to speak in rhyme. Word has it she was trying to find a way to make people not swear anymore. Again, she reminded herself to keep on Dru's good side.


She arrived in Cornwall, and was surprised to find Crispian lingering there. With a hearty welcome, she greeted the young armsman. Poor lad was nervous and uncomfortable, and tugged her into the stable to talk. It was there that she found out the extent of his... problems.


Pointing to Pethos nearby, Crispian said something about him being a strapping young lad. Moryan chuckled and agreed, then realized just what he was implying. With a groan, Moryan asked the young man if he'd followed through on these ... urges.


With a look of pure embarrassement, young Crispian nodded. Sighing to herself, Moryan tried to tell the lad that he should at least bloody fight the urges, before he started enjoying it naturally!


It was about then that Lynx and Arionne strolled up. With a wicked grin and a mirth that she couldn't surpress, Moryan leaned over and whispered to Crispian, "Lynx is rather handsome eh?" Blushing furiously, Crispian could only nod his agreement.


Ah, as much as she wanted to help her friend, Moryan could not resist the evil temptation to tease him. Later, he begged to know if she'd told Lynx everything, and she humbly replied, nae. Of course she hadn't told him everything. Only she had warned Lynx to not be bending over anywhere near Crispian.


The conversation was later drown in more pressing matters arose in the life of the mercenary wench, as she promised her life and her love to Glavian.

(OOC - Azi, WHY would I mind??))


Crispian awoke at Castle Sauvage. He had spent the remainder of the day yesterday, after speaking to Moryan, trying to distract himself with labors and hunts, and with mix results. Graid had requested a dozen iron ram beaks, and a hours had been spent crafting them. The red hot glow of the iron held none of the joy it had before. Used to be such a romantic idea to turn poor molten metals into a fine weapon, or to encase wood in metal for a fine shield. Now, it was just sweaty, hot, back-breaking work.


Ideas of hunting were equally hard to focus on. He had wandered toward Lyonesse, stopping for a pint, and JUST a pint, at the Yardley farm. But battling the giants that marauded the borders of Cornwall and Lyonesse too was unrewarding.


It was not until late, when he heard of Migard scum in Forest Sauvage that he had set forth. Fast horse to Abribard's and thence onto the Castle Sauvage. His first effort out was met with defeat, as a norseman fell him. Shakily recovering from the sickness brought on by resurrection, he ventured forth again.


At Castle Sauvage, he met Cheyenne, Rekhir and another Red Lion. Just the sight of those cloaks brought a snarl to his throat that he bit back.


"Room for a farm-boy with a sword?" he managed to get out, casually enough. Cheyenne, a lean, curvy woman and follower of the church smiled in agreement. Yet still, Crispian considered her much less so than Rakhir, and was glad for the heavy barrel helm he had gotten recently.


With little effort, thanks to Blori who smashes, the Midgardians were sent to their heathen rewards. Crispian felt some joy at that, standing over the corpses of the foes, bloodied sword in hand, but it was a grim joy. Finally, he stumbled to a corner, rolled into his cloak and slept.

 

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Sore and stiff from sleeping against the wall, Crispian woke. His head did not ache from ale, thank the maker. That little Elf's charm was doing some good.


Paying some silver to the stableman, he mounted up and rode hard for Camelot, arriving just to see Arguyle MacFadden stalking with a purpose into the stables.


Swinging down from his own horse, the grabbed the highlander's elbow, spinning him so they faced each other. A mask of fury and rage contorted Crispian's sneering smile.


"And just where have YOU been hiding?" he hissed at the general. Black rage welled up in him at the mere sight of his commoner-turned-lord. His right hand clasped his sword hilt tightly.


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In the dungeon, eyes sprang open in the dim cell. "essss," the voice hissed out, "do it! Ease your pains!" And the insane laughter erupted again.

 

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Slipping back into the city, Tobyas made his way to the Defender's building and those rooms let to the League. Tannir was not on guard as normal. He slipped into his chamber and settled on the cot, thinking of a young Lord far to the south.

Tobyas napped fitfully for some time, passing the early evening in his own dreams. Waking to pressure from his bladder, he slipped out into the hallway headed for the gard-de-robe when he saw Crispian ducking into a chamber, Tannir close in tow and BOTH looking a bit nervous.


He tended to his pressing business and pause by the chamber door, listening, then easing it open.


Crispian was stripped to just trews and Tannir was trying to tighten down a strap on a greave. "This is no good! This stinking plate will never fit."


"es, it will Sir Jashen!" Tannir hissed, tugging at the strap again. "our just muscled differently a bit!"


Tobyas eased the door close. Jashen? Who was Jashen? It LOOKED like Crispian. Collecting his cloak, he moved down the stairs and out, seeking a tavern he had passed this morning, Ye Mug. It had looked nice enough and better than the Mermaid.

Tannir finished adjusting the tunic, having given up on armor. It would have to be hoped that the clothing was fancy enough to pass for Lord Crispian's. Stepping back, he surveyed his efforts.


"This might just work, but..something wrong."


The mercenary, picking at the foppery, looked up. "I look like a popin' jay idiot is what's wrong. Crispian has the stomach for this not me," Jashen complained, tugging at the collar of the tunic. "And worse than the blasted plate!"


"His ring!" Tannir yelped. "ou're missing his ring." He rummaged about in the chest, finding an old, silverish ring with a willow design on it. "This will do, just don't let anyone look to closely at it."


And Jashen slid it on his finger, turning the design in, without a thought.

 

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