The Story of Sir Morah of Winterbourne, a knight in the service of Earl Roderick
Life of Sir Morah as Told by his grandson to his great, great
grandchildren.
Young ones let me tell you of the first year they called
your great great grandfather Sir Morah.
The year was 485. As with any knight your great great
grandfather was known only as Morah as he had not yet earned the title Sir.
Early spring came that year and as a final test, their knighthood was believed
eminent, him and his longtime friends Jayden and Tristian were put through the
grinder. Morah was the first to go through the trials and started out loudly
declaring his famous loyalty for Earl Roderick and even though his horsemanship
was not known to be outstanding he seemed as though he was a champion horse
rider! He flew through the course jumping bushes and ditches with great ease.
He was set to make an expert time when at the last test, the two on one fight,
where instead of hitting the squires below he threw his sword. Were it not for
that mishap he would have surely won instead of finishing second.
The next day Morah and his friends were called to Sarum as
war was waging and men were needed. On the road there they came across three
bandits beating a poor farmer. The three were directed to fight the bandits and
Morah, being a valorous squire, quickly squared off against the one who posed
the most challenging. After a few seconds of blow after blow Morah knocked the
man off the cart he was standing on and demanded the bandit’s surrender. Morah
was well known to be an incredibly just knight and justice was due this man so
they took him as their prisoner and gave him to the earl when they reached
Sarum.
Two days after arriving and Sarum Morah would forever be
known was Sir Morah for he and his friends were knighted. Now you’ve all heard of
the leap. Well Sir Morah had too, but in a grand fashion forgot the leap part
and tripped right into the rump of his horse. It is lucky that he is not known
through the land for this magnificent failure though he is known to have joked
about it during his life.
Sir Tristian's tale, a knight of Cholderton in the service
of Earl Roderick
The year is 485, and yet it seems just like any other year,
Sir Osbert the famed and feared knight known as “The Bear” has yet to improve
his boar’ish attitude and demeanor towards me, or anyone really so I guess it’s
just not me. On the bright side though, while I may not of scored high, I at
least passed Sir Elad’s Grinder, a task to which I know that not even “The
Bear” himself has…..
Talks of Saxons and war are spreading like wildfire these
days, some tell tales of that squires may be knighted to help improve the
Lord’s Army size. I hope this to be true, to test my mettle against Saxons
would be far more glorious then sparring with these silly wooden effigies they
call training dummies…
By the request of Sir Elad, we occupied him to Sarum when
something most interesting occurred, we encountered a local being accosted by
brigands. I swiftly flew into the fray and slew the vile thug with one swing of
my sword in the Earl’s name, though admittedly on the inside it was no more glorious
than dealing with those Effigies again…
Seems some lively entertainment befalls us tonight, Sir
Jaradan, the supposedly renowned knight known for his swordsmanship challenged
my friend Jayden to a duel. It seems that all the knights bet on sir Jaradan to
win but three…. I of course was one of the three, Morah was another, and to my
surprise, Sir Elad was the last…. Sir Jaradan may be skilled, but to be famed
is to be arrogant, and to be arrogant would lead to his downfall. For it was
with one mighty swing that Jayden knocked the arrogant fool on his buttocks in
front of the entire court. The Knights that lost to our bets were at a loss for
words, though Morah and myself just grinned quietly knowing that this would be
the outcome.
Rumors of knighting seemed to be true, but alas, Sir Osbert
being the stubborn man did not name me for recommendation…. Only after I stood
up to him did he finally relent and with the rest of the squires I became a
knight, and now I am one step closer to my goal, to overcome sir Osbert and
truly prove I am stronger than he is, in both body and soul…..
From the journal of Sir Jayden of Broughton, a knight in the
service of Earl Roderick
Spring of this 485th year of our Lord
Transcribed by Father Tewi
I, Sir Jayden newly knighted servant of Earl Roderick have
decided to begin the keeping of a record in which I may put down my thoughts
and experiences. Due to my inability to both read and write I have enlisted the
help of the venerable local Priest of Sarum Father Tewi to help me in this. I
hope that with time I will learn to read and write. I feel that a man of my
great station should be able to do such things. I am no common peasant. A man
of honor such as myself should know of these matters.
The reason I am starting now is my recent knighting. I am
now a Sir. No longer a Squire. Because of this I believe that a record should
be kept of my actions and the actions of my fellow knights.
Let’s begin with my recent bout with Sir Jaradan. It is said
that Sir Jaradan is supposedly the finest swordsman in all of Salisbury. I have
to disagree. To begin a fine swordsman does not play with his opponent, instead
a fine swordsman would take his opponent seriously. Not playfully tapping their
sword on their opponents shoulder. I am a bold man. This is the truth of the
matter. Entering into that duel I had no idea which one of us would leave with
their pride intact. I knew I was not the favorite to win, most bet against me.
But I would not back down. I made them eat their own words. The buffoon tried
to play the crowd, and I took advantage of it. As he was distracted while
dancing around me I caught him off guard with an unexpected sweep of my sword
and sent him flying into the wall. I took everyone by surprise, even the Earl
who exclaimed “Good Lord”.
On top of the Victory I had against Sir Jaradan there were
the Ladies that my dear friend Sir Amaury de Ganis had introduced me to. Of
course, I made a great fool of myself only making Sir Amaury de Ganis look all
the better in comparison. It isn’t his fault. I know I am not the best looking
or most suave of men, but I hope to make up for these faults with strength of
arms and honor in battle. I dedicated my victory over Sir Jaradan to the lovely
Lady Gwiona who had taken my breath away when I first saw her. Some say she is
cursed but if this is so I seek to shatter it.
GM's Recap
The Grinder
The spring of 485 found our young squires, Jayden, Tristian,
and Morah, in the court at Vagon Castle, where they had wintered with their
knights and were continuing their martial training under the tutelage of Sir
Elad, the Marshal of Salisbury and Castellan of Vagon Castle.
Sir Elad had heard that the squires, having reached the age
of 21, were soon to be knighted, and not a moment too soon. King Uther had
called up all able knights to battle the Saxon King Aelle. All eligible squires
were to report immediately to their liege, Earl Roderick, and receive their
sword and spurs. Sir Elad had but one task for them left: The dreaded Grinder!
The Grinder is a steeple chase of sorts, mixing horsemanship
with combat arms in a gruelling and dangerous course. Many a young squire has
failed to complete the Grinder, much to their life-long shame. The famous
Knight, Sir Osbert, is among those who failed to complete the course.
Morah was the first knight on the course, astride his trusty
charger. He completed all the jumping tasks along the course, but failed to
strike the quintain and failed the “footman’s ambush” task. He finished the
course with a score of 46.
Tristian was next on the course. He also failed the
“footman’s ambush” as well as the solitary lance target and the ditch jump. His
final score was 48.
Finally, Jayden ran the course. He also failed to strike the
stationary lance target, but partially completed the “footman’s ambush”, the
only squire to do so on the day. He won the course with a total score of 42
(the lower the better). He received 20 glory, while the others received 10 for
having completed the course.
Sir Elad and the squires left for Sarum immediately, leaving
their knights to follow along later with the supply trains. Elad was anxious to
get the squires to the Earl, not knowing exactly how quickly he wanted to
knight them. On the road to Sarum, the squires and Sir Elad encountered a few
bandits harassing a farmer on his cart. The squires sprang into action and
routed the bandits, killing two and taking one prisoner.
At Sarum, the Earl was impressed by their actions on the
road and took time to congratulate and speak with each of the squires. The
squires spent the rest of that evening in prayer with Father Tewi at the Church
of Salisbury and playing chess in the Earl’s Great Hall with the rest of the
squires and pages.
The next day, the squires were treated to witnessing the
arrival of Prince Madoc, who brought news of a second Saxon force marshalling
at Caercolun. Prince Madoc declared openly that all eligible squires were to be
knighted on the marrow by order of his father, the King, and called for a feast
to celebrate. The knights from Vagon finally arrived and the squires were put
to work arranging their kits for battle and seeing to their horses. Sir Osbert
swore that he would not nominate young squire Tritian for knighthood.
At the feast that night, the squires were able to meet and
introduce themselves to many ladies of the court, including the beautiful Lady
Elaine, Lady Gwiona, Lady Adwen, and the dowager Lady Indeg. Sir Amaury was his
usual charming self, and was confronted by Sir Walter after he spent some time
flirting with Lady Elaine. Calmer heads prevailed, however, and Sir Walter was
pulled aside and calmed down. Sir Osbert, as usual, drank himself under a
table…literally. He managed to embarrass himself and his squire, Tristian, a
situation that Tristian is all too familiar with.
Toward the end of the evening, Sir Jaradan, known as the
finest swordsman in all of Salisbury, challenged Jayden to a duel. Jaradan
struck the first blow, a light tap upon Jayden’s shoulder. It was obvious to
the court that he was merely toying with the young squire. Jayden, however,
would have none of it and knocked Jaradan off his feet with a staggering blow,
causing the Earl himself to rise and exclaim, “Good Lord!” For his part, Sir
Jaradan took the loss in stride, but promised to see Jayden upon the field of
honor again. Much money changed hands that night, including a large wager
between the Earl and Sir Elad.
The next morning, Jayden and Morah were nominated by their
knights, but Sir Osbert, true to his word, refused to nominate Tristian.
Tristian, before the entire assembled court, launched into a stirring oration
and was able to sway the recalcitrant knight. Sir Osbert finally conceded and
offered Tristian for knighthood. After the ceremony, all but Sir Morah made the
leap. Morah, much to the delight of the court, stumbled and planted himself
face-first into his horse’s ass.
The Earl’s entourage set forth immediately for Silchester to
rendezvous with King Uther and bring battle to the hated Saxons.
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