Roderick's quest.

[Rhalius]

Times are difficult in the kingdom. The king has send Roderick, Henry and Frederick on the road along with a messenger for each.
They are visiting neutral villages at the borders of the kingdom, trying to persuade them to become part of the kingdom in exchange for protection.

The village that Roderick is visiting, is called Snakewood. It is a rather quiet place with a small harbour, and a talented blacksmith. 

When he arrives along with Harold, the king's herald, they dismount and proceed on foot.

When they look around however, they notice Lion soldiers patrolling the streets, and when they look up they see their banner displayed on the tallest tower.

What happened here? As far as Roderick knew, prince Edward the Lion and his troops did not have any land ever since their kingdom was conquered years ago.


Roderick: "Harold, I thought you said this was a neutral village? what is going on here?"
Harold: "I don't know, maybe we should ask those knights about it?"

Roderick: "Excuse me sir? I am Roderick. I did not know that Snakewood belonged to Prince Edward. When did this happen?"

Lion knight: "Ah, hello Roderick. It is nice to meet you." The knight gave a warm smile. "To answer your question, Sir Francis of Snakewood has sworn allegiance to our king yesterday, after negotiating with our prince Edward. Snakewood and other villages like this are a small beginning, but the Lion Kingdom will return in time!"
Roderick: "Your king? my apologies, but I thought that Prince Edward was leading the Lions. And how did you persuade Sir Francis?"
Lion Knight: "I can understand your confusion, there is no need to apologise. We did think that our king was lost to us for many years, but we received a letter from our king several months ago!" The knight spoke proudly. "He is being held captive.. but we dont know where and by who. That letter gave us hope though.
Prince Edward has rallied us together and in the last months we have captured many bandits who plagued this region. In exchange for protection from bandits, more and more villages are joining our cause. Sir Francis is right here, you can ask him about it if you like."

[Rhalius]

The knight turned around and gestured towards a knight with the symbol of Snakewood on his shield.

Roderick: "Hello sir Francis, how are things here in Snakewood?"
Francis smiled: "Snakewood has not been doing this well in many years! My people can travel safely through the forests once more and Prince Edward has such need of my people! they have been working hard to feed and arm his soldiers, this is very good for business. And in exchange I will fight for the Lion kingdom when need be."

Roderick gave it some thought. The village did seem pretty peacefull, and the people seemed happy. It was a shame though that Prince Edward arrived here a day earlier than him. "Thank you Sir Francis, I hope things will keep going this well for Snakewood."
Lion Knight: "Come, I will show you the blacksmith." He gestured Roderick and Harold to follow him.

The local blacksmith seemed very busy. Soldiers where everywhere sharpening swords, polishing armor and inspecting the weapons and armor made by the blacksmith.

Lion Knight: "We consider ourselves very lucky with the blacksmith here, he has a lot of experience and is a hard worker. He supplies us with all the weapons and armor we need to keep this region safe, and new recruits join our cause every day."
Roderick: "He does seem to work very hard indeed." Roderick couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by all those soldiers and knights around him, it seemed like an army was getting armed and equipped here. "What is the purpose of this army? Surely there are not that many bandits around?"
Lion Knight: "Don't worry Roderick, you have nothing to fear from us. Our king always respected your king, and so do we. We are creating a new Lion Kingdom through peacefull means while we are working to find out who is holding our king prisoner. When we free him, his new kingdom will be waiting for him."

Leaving his helmet with the blacksmith to work out a dent, Roderick took a walk through the village with Harold.
Noticing several villagers standing in line at the bakery, talking about all kinds of things, Roderick approached them to see how they felt about this take over.

Roderick: "Hello there good people, I am sure things have changed quite a bit around here lately?"
Man: "Yes, for the better. My children can finally play in the woods again without fear of bandits!"
Woman: "And there is so much work now. Me and my sister have been very busy sewing together all kinds of uniforms."
Baker: "And those soldiers sure eat a lot! The knights have paid me very well to feed them, so thats what I do."
Roderick: "I see, well a pleasant day to you all! I am glad to hear things have changed here for the better."

Although he felt a bit disappointed that he couldnt get the agreement he wished for, Roderick was happy for the people of Snakewood still.

Roderick: "Well Harold, our job here is done. Let's have a nice glas of milk before we head back home."
Harold smiled and agreed. He never cared much for being on the road and prefered to just toot his own horn from the safety of the royal castle so he was happy to return home.

((to be continued soon.  ))

[Georgeag1972]

Hello  Rhalius.

Great story until now, well done. It seems that in the village all are very well and the villagers are very happy with the new situation. They have jobs, money and they are safe with the Lion's knights there. But, are everything well? I have the feeling that something is not going well. I'm very curious for what will happening next. 
Thank you very much for the nice pictures. The second photo with the village is wonderful. Excellent job, congrats.

George. 

[DrDalek6]

Hmm all does seem well there and everyone seems happy but, the last story I read seemed to suggest something mroe sinister might be a foot    Great photos will be interested to see how this one develops  .

[Lynx]

This is excellent story telling, Rhalius! Everything seems all right but you've got the feeling something is wrong. I'm very curious what wil happen next. Oh, and tell Roderick it's not polite to talk to people with the visor closed!

[Rhalius]

Sadly his visor cant remain open anymore, its an old helmet. It's why he's often not wearing it in the stories. 
Yesterday I had my next post almost ready when I accidently closed the tab, was listening to music and looking up some info somewhere. 
Tomorrow I plan to post the next part, didnt feel like retyping the same thing again yesterday and was busy today.

[Rhalius]

((and here it continues, theres going to be references to all previous stories, so here are links to them.

http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=10139.0
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=11266.0
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=11576.0

That's all of them, now back to the story.  ))

When Roderick and Harold try to enter the tavern, they are stopped by the guard at the door.

Door guard: "I am sorry sir, but you cannot enter. A private meeting is held in there."
Roderick: "I see, what about upstairs?"
Door Guard: ""One of the dockworkers is celibrating his birthday upstairs."

While Roderick keeps talking with the door guard to find out where he might find something to drink, Prince Edward the Lion is speaking with questionable company inside of the tavern. The three cousins Wolfgang of Ravenstein, Heinrich Drachenfell and Siegfried Rodich are there, but also Lord Ranulf the Dread Baron and his silent helper.

Prince Edward: "Time for the next part of our plan.. we gathered enough information about King Phillip's castle and its defenders."
Wolfgang drinks from his ale before speaking: "We already captured that castle you know. If it where not for that troublesome Templar Knight we would have kept it."
Heinrich: "You allowed the beer delivery cart where he was hiding in to enter the castle. If it where not for your love of beer, we would be ruling that kingdom now."
Wolfgang: "Says you Heinrich, while you where beaten in the tournament hosted by the Falcon kingdom. If I had entered the tournament, I would have beaten that upstart swan knight and Lord Silvermane."
Siegfried: "Need I remind you both that I won that tournament?"

Heinrich: "That Swan Knight won the battle, you only won the tournament because that bossy lady Mary declared you the winner to marry you. With a wife like that I am not sure you really have won anything that day."
Siegfried: "I will not have you talk ill of my wife like that! And she is not bossy, I decide what happens around there at my castle. Now can we get on with this meeting, my wife said I should be home before dinner time."

Ranulf: "All three of you are weak. I infiltrated their castle, earned their trust, kidnapped their queen, and defeated all their knights and soldiers."

Heinrich: "And then you where beaten by a girl."
Ranulf spoke with anger: "You better watch your tongue boy, I can take you all on at once."

Prince Edward raised his voice: "Enough! we gain nothing by fighting amongst ourselves. However, your bickering gives me an idea."

While the others calmed down and looked curiously at Edward to hear about his plan, Edward grinned as he continued:
"Like us, they are an alliance and not a single force.. King Phillip shares his power with Baron Blacktower and Sir Cedric the Swan Knight.
If we can turn them against each other.. they will become divided. And that is when we strike.. we take them out one at a time."
Ranulf agreed: "Aye, leave Cedric to me. His many victories in battle made him a living legend.. but in me he will find his equal. We just need to seperate him from the others."
Heinrich: "We can take care of Baron Blacktower, that leaves you with King Phillip, Edward."

Edward: "That will be Prince Edward to you, now that our plan is settled, I have other business to attend to."
And with that Prince Edward stood up and walked out of the tavern.

[Rhalius]

Much to his surprise, Edward sees Roderick outside and is startled for a moment.

He quickly recovers and smiles to roderick, making sure to close the door behind him.
Roderick: "Prince Edward, it is nice to see you in person."
Edward: "You are one of king Phillip's knights, yes? what brings you to Snakewood?"
Roderick: "I am Roderick sir, I came here to offer Snakewood protection in exchange for joining our kingdom, but it seems you have beaten me to it noble prince."
Edward smiled: "Ah Roderick, if you are in need of allies, what would you say about us signing an alliance between our two kingdoms? together we will stand strong!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Roderick's shoulder and gently guided him away from the tavern.

Seeing no harm in signing an alliance with the appearantly noble Lion Prince who helped them in the past, Roderick agreed and was happy to make new friends. "That sounds great prince Edward, it seems my journey was not for nothing after all!"

While Roderick and Harold move away from the tavern to sign the treaty with Prince Edward, the meeting inside continues.

Ranulf: "I don't like how the prince bosses me around.. but we is usefull.. we need his soldiers and his silver tongue."
Wolfgang: "Maybe can get rid of him after we captured the castle."

In the meanwhile Harold the Herald has signed the royal treaty in name of the king, under Roderick's watchfull eye. And now prince Edward is signing the treaty as well, with his knights standing by his side.

Everyone seems happy about this treaty, but will it truly be a good thing?

((to be continued soon.))

[PlaymoMan]

Ooh, very exciting! Great story, eager to read the next installment.

[Tiermann]

Very interesting so far. Looking forward to the next installment.