8/3/2019 Sir Aldress 1

1/3

The Illustrious Quest for the Grail of Sir AldressAs Chronicled by Pep

Day OneI begin this chronicle with both joy and a heavy heart, for today I begin my travels with the

illustrious and renowned Sir Aldress as he quests for the blessings of the Lady of the Lake. I am

saddened to leave my home, but it is not the first time, and my apprenticeship as a scribe was nearingits end anyways. I look forwards to my travels and adventures to come, and thank the lady I am skilledin the care of horses as well as the written word, or this opportunity would have passed me by.

I have seen to the mount of my lord, Sir Aldress, and my own much less impressive steed, and prepared our possessions for travel. My lord is a tall and fit man, impressive in the way he controls hismount, and looking truly like a hero in his burnished armor and gleaming sword. His appearance hascaused much of a stir among our village, with the comelier lasses fawning over him and the stoutest of the young lads putting a great show of effort into their tasks, in an attempt to catch his eye. The spiritsof Glauford, much diminished after our poor recent harvest, have buoyed, and seem to remain higheven after my lord explained that no further of it's residents would accompany him.

My lord is approaching, returning from a final word with the village elder, and I end this entrynow, so that we may be off.

Day 4Little enough happened on my lord's quest up to this point, I had begun to despair of an

uneventful journey of unbearable tedium. I have only just now finished disposing of the evidence of mylack of clairvoyance. Earlier today, a pair of orcs interposed themselves in our path and howled achallenge that still rings in my ears while brandishing their foul weaponry at us. My lord immediatelydrew his mighty sword and charged, stabbing the first of the now charging orcs through the chest andtearing him open. Had I ever doubted the lady's decision to grant these giants among men the right torule us, my faith was ensured by the sight of the warrior, sat astride his massive warhorse in hisgleaming armor, utterly unafraid of the beasts that sought to threaten him, and by extension his lands.As he dropped his great sword, and with it the hulking corpse that had but a moment before containedthe anger and means to rend the life from a man, the second orc charged undeterred. Sir Aldress calmlyraised his shield to ward off the fevered blows of the raging monster, before swiftly drawing his secondsword and dispatching the beast with two swift and sure strokes.

In my awe, it was not until Sir Aldress prompted me with a discreet cough that I rushedforwards and began tending to his armor and equipment. We made camp on that very spot, to makesure other orcs who wished to challenge us would be quite able to find us, after cleaning his armor andweapons, preparing the camp, seeing to the horses, and cooking dinner, I am laying down to rest, safein the knowledge that Sir Aldress is keeping a vigil.

Day 9We spent this last night in the comforting confines of Baron D'Abney's keep. The Baron is a fit

man of martial bearing, as one would expect of one whose holdings sit near the middle of the dreadedAxe Bite Pass, and his sons proved very interested in Sir Aldress's quest, of which he remained tightlipped. I took a room near my lord's, so as to better ready his gear on the morrow.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke to find that we would be accompanied on our ride by noneother than the esteemed Lady D'Abney and two of the Baron's three sons, not to mention a fullcomplement of the Baron's bowmen and a score of somewhat suspect men at arms. When pressed, a

bowman by the name of Pavel explained to me that the Baron preferred to keep a greater standing forceof bowmen on hand to counter the rocky terrain, which made it hard to come to grips with the enemy.When I inquired as to why a knight of his standing would deign to have such an unchivalrous alotment

8/3/2019 Sir Aldress 1

2/3

of forces, my new friend promptly changed the subject and disappeared the moment I looked down to prepare my pack.

Day 21It has been a long march, full of the hardships I always associated with the wilderness, but we

have finally reached our destination! I cannot count the number of wild animals I have found in my kit,

the itching vines I have inexplicably blundered into, the number of rocks or burrs that have found their way into my boots, or the amount of that dreadful concoction that tastes of old boots the bowmen insistis a soup.

But I digress! We have reached my Lord's destination! The damned city of Mordheim,destroyed by a great comet, home to the worst refuse of the old world! My Lord's decision to clear thiscity of it's refuse is truly awe inspiring, and surely will gain him great aplomb in the eyes of the Lady,and I am truly blessed to have this opportunity to chronicle it.

As we camp outside it's walls this night, and prepare to bid Lady D'Abney and her retinue afond farewell, I am struck by the almost surreal beauty of the city. Fires burn at its center, andthroughout it, illuminating the crushed walls and crumbling buildings, and reflecting off the night sky.Truly, this is a city full of magic and adventure.

Day 22The day began cheerfully, with Sir Aldress and I bidding our traveling companions a fond

farewell, only to discover that the Baron had detailed a number of them, including my friend Pavel andhis twin brother Gaston, a third bowman, and a number of men at arms, to follow us into the city proper and assist us in our quest. Upon hearing this, Sir Aldress bid the Lady D'Abney take his thanks to her lord, and promptly dropped to his knees to thank the lady for such a stout boon companion as theBaron. I believe I may have heard something muttered about lots and madmen by the men at armsat this point, but it seems more likely they were simply noisy in the shouldering of their halberds andgathering of their packs.

As we traveled into the city, I marveled at the destructive force of the comet, being somethingthat had turned what was obviously once such a prosperous place into mangled wreckage, full of destroyed homes out of which peered keen eyes and roads long since crushed and potholed by constantuse and nonexistent maintenance. It was in this state that I nearly stumbled into the rear of my Lord'shorse as he stopped to hear the words of Gaston, who had been scouting ahead with Pavel. The master listened for a moment before issuing the command to move upwards to a bend in the road and takecover behind both it and him. It was then that I noticed the rubble on either side of the road hadrendered the normal alleyways and crevices nigh impenetrable. Sir Aldress motioned to Pavel andGaston, the third bowman being a ways behind us watching our rear, who stepped out of cover and

paced down the street before carefully taking aim with their longbows and loosing a volley. I nearlyleaped out of my skin when a hail of crossbow bolts began to rain down around them, but the bolts fell

poorly, and I saw that Pavel and Gaston had judged their range expertly. Gaston's second arrow wasrewarded with a scream from down the street, and after a few more minutes they signaled to Sir Aldressthat the remaining enemy had taken cover. Sir Aldress promptly advanced down the street, into theteeth of another storm of bolts, all of which either went wide or clattered off his armor. Advancing

behind him, the men at arms and I found ourselves sandwiched between two buildings upon which perched dark shapes possessed of a desire for our demise.

Taking up a position in the center of the street, Sir Aldress calmly nodded to the western building. When I, rather more heatedly than I intended, for which I was later remonstrated with,inquired as to my Lord's desire, he explained that there was no way to get one as heavily armored ashimself to the top floor, and would I kindly clear the roof while he provided a wall against incomingfire? His logic was irrefutable, so I turned to the remaining man at arms on the street, the other two

8/3/2019 Sir Aldress 1

3/3

having already made the roof and were madly charging the enemy, and used his cupped hands to boostmyself to the roof. I scrabbled up in time to hear his cry of pain as a bolt found him, and immediatelycharged the nearest foe. The creature I charged threw down its curious looking crossbow and drew awickedly curve and serrated blade while snarling with a face I suddenly found to be far from humanand devoid of anything resembling compassion or mercy. It must have been my terrified expression thatled him to let his guard down far enough for my flailing axe to smash into his jaw, sending him

senseless to the floor. I turned to see my three comrades bleeding and slinking back towards the roof edge in the face of a maniacal, screaming creature with pointed ears and a face far to thin and long tohave a place on a human.

I am unclear on what happened next, but Sir Aldress commended me for it, my comrades haveall sworn that I am a far braver man than they have ever seen, and we are no longer being beset by whatSir Aldress assures me were the hated and evil kin of our Fey folk.