Well shit, Perin hadn't actually expected the plan to work.  Given how the rest of the quest had unfolded, he was honestly expecting things to end significantly worse.  There's still time said a voice at the back of his mind, but he dismissed the concern and turned his attention to the Moorish knight that seemed to be free from whatever spell held him.  "If you'll forgive my asking Sir, what caused your feud with Sir Gaidon?  And how did you come to find yourself here?" Perin asked with a wave of his hand.

OOC: Alister is off being a nut and doing her typical weekend Aussie horse crap, so she told me to go ahead and post to keep things moving.  Amazingly enough trying to type a response while it's a million degrees, out in the middle of nowhere, and on your phone doesn't work all that well.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:36, Thu 21 Dec 2017.

"I swore vengeance on him for scaring me," he says, pointing to his face, "which I thought had caused me to lose my true love," he explains.  Indicating the favor he continues, "but now I realize that she still loves me."

"As to getting here, Sir Gaidon and I rode here with Sir Peter, chasing the Worm after we wounded it near Bourton," he says.

Perin nods gravely.  That was one mystery solved, now to make a giant fool of himself...  "And I do hope you'll forgive me if this sounds preposterous, but Sir Gaidon has taken to calling himself the Lord of the Feast, and has a seemingly endless supply of wonderful food on hand.  Would you know anything about that?  It just seems a mite strange is all."

There was a strange emotion that flickered through Alister when he parted with the favour. It wasn't regret. Not quite. He was glad for her — in a way — if it meant that Lady Glesri was to be reunited with the one she loved, and yet...

It was more of a guilt. A heaviness. Something he couldn't quite name, but he forced a smile all the same.

He was getting better at that these days.

"You must forgive Sir Perin's questions, Sir," he said, looking almost a tad rueful. "My name is Sir Alister. We were sent by Sir Peter's father" — sort of —  "to ensure his safe return home, and in doing so found ourselves on the trail of the same wyrm. We encountered Sir Gaidon and yourself on the journey, and Lady Glesri, who came to search for you after you did not return to her."

The rest was... best not mentioned. Possibly ever.

"She very much wishes to see you again, Sir," Alister said solemnly. "She is not far, and I imagine we have much to discuss on the road." Perin was roughly on the right track in asking about Sir Gaidon. Sir Gaidon couldn't be left to his fate either, but any information about the wyrm or where to find Sir Peter was sure to prove invaluable.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:56, Fri 22 Dec 2017.

As Sir Perin and Sir Ferdinand have been talking, the other knights have laid themselves on the ground and are now asleep.  Ferdinand himself seems to be struggling to stay awake but he is fading fast.  "The worm . . . sent by the Devil.  Trapped us here.  Sir Guidon's . . . ever-full . . . cornucopia.. . ."  He slumps to the ground, unconscious and efforts to revive him are unsuccessful.

An ever-full cornucopia?  That would certainly explain how the ‘Lord of the Feast’ was able to produce such a bounty here in the middle of the woods.  Perhaps he was missing it, much like Sir Ferdinand here?  Frowning Perin began searching the slumbering knight, maybe had this cornucopia on his person?  After all, stealing another man’s prized possession would certainly be within the realm of the ‘Knight of Vengeance’.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Fri 22 Dec 2017.

Sir Ferdinand and his fellows are wearing armor and little else.  There are no obvious cornicopias on them.  They are essentially asleep.  I am not sure where you intend to take them.  The only way out of this place that you know of is through Bourton, where you are not particularly welcome.  Of course you have not checked any of the paths out of the clearings.  I suppose that you could tie the six of them and their squires to their horses if you wanted . . . and hope no one rolls off.  It seems that you have some other, more pressing matters with which to contend.


                        ? --- Love --- ?

        ?                      }                   ?
                               {
        |                      }                   |
        |                      {                   |
   Food +------------------------------------------+ Hate
        |                      |                   |
        |                      |                   |
                               |
        ?                      |                   ?

                             Bourton

Map representative rather than literal, and not to scale.

What in God's name was—

"Perin!"

Alister's reprimand was surprisingly sharp. A week ago, Alister would have hesitated to question the judgement of any of the older men, but that was before Perin seemed to want to go rifling through and stealing the possessions of unconscious knights. "Have you taken leave of your senses?"

That familiar headache was creeping back up. He couldn't say for sure why the knights had fallen asleep, but it seemed as though this wasn't going to be as straightforward as he'd hoped. He hadn't quite pictured returning Sir Ferdinand to Lady Glesri by strapping the unconscious man behind his horse like luggage and dumping him at her feet.

"There is more going on here." Alister strode back to his horse, snatching the reins back from his squire and mounting again so fluidly the colt gave a sharp toss of his white head.

One thing was for sure, they hadn't fallen asleep by accident. This wasn't over.

"We should search the remaining roads. Perhaps there are more like this to be found," he said, pushing his horse up towards the untraveled road from the clearing that lead deeper into the forest.

OOC: The "Up" road towards the upper right corner, yeah.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Fri 22 Dec 2017.

If Perin seems bothered by Alister's outburst, he doesn't show it.  Instead he turns to the younger man, a smile fixed on his face.  "Calm yourself brother, Sir Ferdinand mentioned something about an ever-full cornucopia, and I was merely making sure that he didn't have it on his person; because as you say, something is obviously remiss here" he says, gesturing at the fallen knights.  "But as you say, we should investigate the other paths, perhaps we'll find it elsewhere."

This road leads to the clearing with Lady Glesri.  Circle completed below.


                     Food --- Love --- Hate

       Love                    }                  Love
                               {
        |                      }                   |
        |                      {                   |
   Food +------------------------------------------+ Hate
        |                      |                   |
        |                      |                   |
                               |
       Hate                    |                  Food

                             Bourton

Map representative rather than literal, and not to scale.

The entire ride, Perin can't seem to shake the feeling that they've missed something with Sir Ferdinand.  Seeing his chance to return to the clearing with the Moorish knight, he turns to his companions and says "Alister, would you see about convincing the Lady Glesri to return with us to Sir Ferdinand?  She said she wanted to see her love, and it seems we have found him."  Glancing at Gracian, he adds "I just can't help but think we missed something in that clearing, I'm going to go give it a once over again if you don't mind my friend.  If this works, I'll see you there shortly, and if not, I'll return here as quickly as I can."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:22, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

Sir Alister goes back to Lady Glesri's clearing and finds that she won't even talk to him unless he challengers her again.

Meanwhile, Sir Perin searches through Sir Ferdinand's tent and finds a cornucopia.

Sir Perin gets a point in Deception.

After a discussion, it appears there is a predicament. Sir Ferdinand is still unconscious, and Lady Glesri has once again lost her memory, making it difficult to bring one to the other. Finding themselves short on options, Alister and Perin agree to bring the Cornucopia to Sir Gaidon to see if it holds another key to the curse.

OOC: Phone post again, this time coming to you from under a tree. Perin and I discussed this probability might happen, just to make it clear that I'm not writing on Perin's behalf without having talked to him first. <3

Sir Gracian has (again) been quiet lost in contemplations about why on earth he left his home for ... this. Luckily for him Sir Alister has proven quite alot smarter than Sir Perin and Sir Gracian combined. For a moment Sir Gracian had thought they had the riddle solved but now things were back to normal.

All they need now is that it will begin to rain ...

It doesn't take long for the trio to arrive where the Lord of the Feast (Sir Guidon) is still hard at work eating, he and his fellow knights throwing scraps at their squires.  In his booming voice, Perin addresses the man "Sir Gaidon, we come from Sir Ferdinand, he has renounced his oath of vengeance against you and we have come to return your cornucopia to you." he says, presenting the object to the man sitting at the head of the table.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

The Lord of the Feast gives a gasp as he sees his cornucopia and accepts it gratefully from Sir Perin.  "Thank you, good Sir," he exclaims.  He hands the cornucopia to his squire who uses it to feed the other squires.  Once fed, the knights and squires lapse into sleep.  The food on the table disappears.

Perin had hoped to question Sir Gaidon, but unfortunately the large man had passed out almost immediately after the squires were fed.  Moving towards the unconcious knights, his intent to search them, much like before, is quite clear.  Holding up a hand, he forestalls any reply by Alister "Sir Alister, I know you don't care for my methods, so when we are done, I am happy to meet you at a time and place of your choosing.  Lances, first to fall.  If you win, I will gladly apologize for my behavior, if I do, you will say no more of it.  Is that fair?"

Without waiting for a reply, Perin begins searching the sleeping the knights.  He's looking for some image of Sir Ferdinand to show the good lady Glesri; though he's not sure they'll find it.  Already he's trying to figure out how to best transport the unconscious knight back to the lady, so that they might break the curse she's under.

Sir Perin finds a locket that contains Sir Ferdinand's image.

With a flick of his wrist, Perin raises the newly found locket high.  "And here we are brothers.  Hopefully it should hopefully be a relatively easy task to free the good lady Glesri from her curse."  With the locket in hand, the trio quickly make their way back to the enchanted noblewoman, and upon arriving, Perin makes a point of allowing Alister to present it to her.

The Jousting knight sees the image of Sir Ferdinand in the locket and gasps.  Her armor and horse disappear and she appears as if waked from a dream.  The two young ladies in the other pavilions shake their heads as if dispelling bad dreams of their own before yawning and lying down to sleep.

Lady Glesri, exclaims, "thank you, Sir Knight!  I had feared I would never see my amor again."

On the far side of the clearing from where they initially entered, the vines shrink and a path emerges.  In the distance, the Golden Field can be seen.

Sir Alister, Sir Gracian, and Sir Perin receive 100 Glory for lifting the lesser taints from the forest.  Sir Perin loses one Honor for looting items from unconscious knights.

"No doubt the worm lies in that direction.  To our sudden and inevitable doom then brothers?" Perin asks, pointing towards the newly opened path.  Despite the jovial nature of the large man's banter, it's obvious that he's concerned about the coming fight.  For the creature to trap all these people here... there was obviously strong magic afoot, and if the Salisbury knights weren't careful, they could easily find themselves in the same boat.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:22, Mon 25 Dec 2017.

Lady Glesri slumps to the ground, unconscious, as the three knights head toward the Golden Field.  When they enter the path, a man's form appears before them, clad in heavenly raiment.  He is blinding to look upon.  "Well done, Sir knights," he proclaims to the group.  "You have cleansed the evil brought about by the blood of the Iridescent Wyrm touching the Golden Field.  However, one task remains," he continues, now seeming to only be speaking to Sir Perin. "You must draw the new Wyrm away from the field before you slay it, lest you repeat my mistake and my failure.  My sword, Snactgladius lies where we fell," he says before disappearing.

Continuing on, the group find themselves at the edge of the Golden Field.  It is a place of beauty and glory and the Hymns of the Lord seem to sound on the wind.  However, three things mar the field.  The first is a sword, glowing with a dim golden light, which has been thrust into the soil at the center of the field -- Sanctgladius.  Twined around it is a long serpentine skeleton and beside that, the skeleton of a man.  Finally, on the far side of the field is a blasphemous wyrm, its iridescent scales all of the colors of the rainbow.  It lets out a screech as the players appear and charges them.  It is moving faster than a horse.

A plan would probably be a good thing.  It will take a turn to get to the sword.  There are three paths out of this clearing, the one you came in on (6 o'clock), and ones at 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock (or 0°, 120° and 240°).  The paths are not wide enough for multiple people to go side-by-side.  The woods are too thick to be able to ride through easily.

"There isn't much time brothers, let us retreat back up the path and setup on either side of the road, and when the beast comes, we'll surround and trap it there; else we risk spilling the worm's blood here in the field."  Seeing the worm quickly advancing, Perin shakes his head adding "It's a blessed weapon but it is too risky to try to get there before the worm."  Turning back up the path, he gestures the others ahead of him but as soon as they start racing up the path, he turns once more and heads for the sword.

As he charges forth, the usually irreligious Perin murmurs a hasty prayer.  Perhaps it was due to the heavenly presence of Sir Peter, or perhaps the unholy worm that made him do so.  Regardless, it felt appropriate, and helped calm the young knight as he watched his shining rainbow doom approach in a blur of scales and teeth.

EDIT:  GM edit to rectify God-moding.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:15, Wed 27 Dec 2017.

Turn 1

Sir Perin charges forward toward the sword as Sir Alister and Sir Gracian retreat back toward the Jousting clearing.  The wyrm heads straight for Sir Perin, its iridescent scales gleaming malevolently.  As he gets close, Sir Perin's courage fails at the sight of the Unholy beast and he retreats back toward the edge of the clearing.  Unfortunately, the Wyrm is faster and it pursues him and bites him.

The attack is not exactly physical, it is as if the thing bit through his armor and touched his basest feelings.  Sir Perin takes 4 points of damage.

Turn 2

Sir Alister and Sir Gracian dismount and draw their swords, urging their squires to lead the horses to the clearing where Lady Glesri lies in slumber.

GM EDIT: Only then do they realize that Sir Perin is not with them.  Turning, they see with horror that the wyrm is attacking Sir Perin as he reaches for the Holy Sword.  Realizing that if they attempt to remount their horses and ride back, they will meet Sir Perin as he tries to enter the path, preventing him from entering and forcing a fight on the Golden Fields, they resign themselves to setting up the ambush.  Calling back their squires, they get their horses backed into the forest nearby.

Sir Perin draws upon his will and forces himself to face the abomination before him and ride toward the sword.  The wyrm bites him again for another 7 damage as he grabs the sword.

Sir Perin gets a check in Valorous and a check in Reckless.

Turn 3

Sir Perin wheels his horse and heads back toward the path that leads to the Jousting clearing, the wyrm bites Sir Perin a third time, for 10 points of damage this time.

Turn 4

Sir Perin urges his mount onward and charges down the path toward his companions.  The wyrm bites Sir Perin a fourth time for 6 points of damage, dropping him below the unconscious level.  With a burst of willpower, he remains in the saddle and can see his companions on either side of the path ahead.

Sir Perin is at 7 hit points, 8 is his Unconscious level.  He is only up because he made a willpower check (rolling under current hit points).  He is Unhealthy and requires Chirurgery.  Vigorous activity will probably result in aggravated damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:25, Wed 27 Dec 2017.

Cursing Sir Perin's recklesness Sir Gracian is still shocked to see how the terrifying gracefulness of the Wyrm. He sees Sir Perin be struck again and again as Sir Perin attempts to bring the sword to his companions and feel cold fear grib his heart. He tries to calm his nerves, gribs his sword and steadies himself for the (most likely final) assault.