516

Merl took us north to our valley to start reclaiming Castle Wakely--with Senorix, Giles, Tor, Gavin, and myself. Senorix went exploring and found a lot of bones. Merl found a burnt out manor house with a palisade.

I was on the Essex side of our lands and I became lost, and it started raining, and I found myself near a cave. I chose to rest outside of the cave in the rain, and in the morning, one of my horses was missing. When I met back with the others, we discussed what we saw and concluded that a dragon must have been nearby.

The next day, we searched the lands some more, Senorix and Giles found a dilapidated bridge across the river. They also found a manor house that had collapsed but had a workable mill. He also found a Latin scroll that he was unable to read--except to know that John Wakely was mentioned. Merl found a third manor--this one was standing and the hall was mostly intact and had an intact road that led into Salisbury, apparently cleared by a number of horses. I found myself in a very thick forest. I found a house with a henge around it. An old woman in it was the seer for my grandfather, Emrys.

On the next day, Merl headed west and found a road that connected to a large road and found himself on a ridge, and below him a few hundred yards away was a Saxon village surrounding a manor house--outnumbering us and our 50 knights 3 to 1.

Senorix headed south and left the valley into Silchester and saw a number of Saxons. He turned back, and as he did he found a small Roman fort that needed some work. There was a bear in the fort. They killed it. Senorix ripped the bear pelt off. They also found a cemetery with a skeleton. Senorix found a signet ring.

I headed East. My horse stumbled in a hole, and poking around I found a mass grave.

The next day we headed east and went past the mass grave and found the castle. The stone wall and the keep were intact, but the church had been burnt down. Chandler, an old man, lived in the castle. He told us that Sir Declan killed himself after trying to reclaim the Wakely estate. Then Storn, a Saxon, came and set up a village to the east, and then the whole family left. We set the peasants to planting fields. We found out from Chandler the history of the old Wakelys. Then he took us to our rooms. When checking out the master bedroom, Senorix tried to throw himself from the ledge, but Chandler stopped him.

We explored a secret passage. When Merl went through, he heard some singing and was scared. Giles and I checked it out and found a ring with some blood on it. Chandler showed us the other secret passages.

Senorix and Tor caught some Saxon villagers, and they told us that Winferth led the town to the east. While we were talking, the mantle in the great hall suddenly dumped its contents.

We went to see the Saxon village to the east. Winferth agreed to swear fealty to Merl.

Back at the castle, we got ready for bed, and Senorix saw Chandler leaving the castle. Senorix followed him and found him talking to two men on horseback. They talked and the men give Chandler a packet, and then he returned to the castle. Senorix confronted him, and they came to an agreement.

We sent a rider back to Arthur for reinforcements but they never made it through. The rhubarb crop was good, but the food decayed quickly in the castle. We went to find where the man at arms was. We found his mutilated body and tried to find the dragon cave. Merl charged into the cave and was mauled by a massive bird. Although Senorix and Merl were seriously injured, the rest of us defeated the griffon. We also found Sir Donald's sword Aglovaine. We headed back to the keep.

Posted with Blogsy