This is a sample of the campaign doc I'll be giving to players for our next campaign. It's going to use FATE, for the reasons discussed in this thread over on rpg.net. Basically, we wanted a system that promoted story and character; last time, we used GURPS, and the game was good despite it, not because of it. That's not to say GURPS is not a good game, it's an excellent game - but it's excellent for things other than what we wanted to do.

So this time we'll use FATE. Of course, I had to flesh it out for my particular campaign. And that's this stuff here. I'll be interested in comments about this adaptation of FATE. I'll just post the systemish stuff for now.

It is, by the way, open to new players. (If you live in Melbourne, Australia, anyway!)

Setting stuff will follow later...


Setting & System
The game will be using FATE, and set in a realistic-themed fantasy world, beginning with a culture something like Anglo-Saxon England, when paganism was being replaced by monotheism. The people are the Bronding people, and the village will be Tiwesdæg (Tee-wez-dag). Through taking a mythic and not purely historical approach to the setting, it's hoped to gain an appreciation for seeing the world as the Anglo-Saxons saw it through their own stories.

The story takes place twenty years after the events of Tiwesdæg Clíewen


Webpage
The game will have a webpage, with a wiki which can be edited by all registered users. Updates for the game will be posted on Tiwesdæg Clíewen 2 [no link yet as I'm not putting the page up until this is finalised]


Aspects and Skills
Each player can choose for their character 5 Aspects, and 12 levels of skills. Ideally, the Aspects should cover one of each of the character's profession, some attribute of theirs (strong, agile, lame, one-eyed, etc), some part of their personality (brave, cowardly, helpful, angry, thoughtful), and some relationship (dutiful to lord, loves wife, etc).

In addition to that, it's good if each player give us a brief description of some things which are significant to their character. A place, a person, and a thing (something portable!)


Skills
Skills all begin at Ordinary for all characters, they have them at that level with no effort. The exception is Craft & Lore skills, which a character can't even try without having learned them.

Physical Skills
Acrobatics
Climbing
Jumping
Legerdemain
Lifting
Resilience
Riding
Skiing
Stealth
Swimming
Throwing

Communication Skills
Acting
Awareness
Intrigue
Lovecraft
Musician (Percussion or Wind or Stringed)
Oratory
Rhetoric
Singing
Spoken Native Language (specify)


Combat Skills
Axe
Bow
Brawling
Club
Dagger
Flail
Initiative
Net
Polearm
Shield
Sling
Spear
Sword
Whip


Lore & Craft Skills
Agriculture
Alchemy
Animalcraft
Astrology
Brewing
Ceramics
Cookery
Drawing
Embalming
Engineering
Fishing
Fletching
Folklore
Foraging
Glassworking
Heraldry & Genealogy
Herblore
Hideworking
Jewelcraft
Law (specify culture)
Lockcraft
Masonry
Mathematics
Metalcraft
Milling & Baking
Mineralogy
Perfumery
Physician
Piloting
Script (Specify)
Seamanship
Shipwright
Spoken Foreign Language (specify)
Survival
Textilecraft
Timbercraft
Tracking
Weaponcraft
Weatherlore
Woodworking


Extras
Every character has Ordinary equipment, friends and family. Extras are those things which are beyond Ordinary, and which the character will value and keep. Magical swords, lovers, favoured horse, a house, etc.

Skill Extras are things which are just things; they have no personality or history of their own. When used, they grant a bonus to some other Skill or Aspect.

Aspect Extras are things which have some life of their own, and a story. Magical swords, lovers, lands the character feels a duty towards, and so on. Each level of the character's Aspects put into the Aspect Extra grants three Aspect levels to that thing.


Conflict
Conflicts are when a character is using a Skill or Aspect, but someone is trying to stop them. Conflicts are always ultimately between two Firsts, two individuals; but another may Support, acting as a Second; there can be no Thirds or Fourths. Many conflicts are combats, but they don't have to be. They can be Combat, Physical, Intellectual or Social. They go like this: -

    I.Roll for Initiative. This determines order for the rest of the conflict.
     II.Perform actions. Two of
             i.All-Out Attack – an attack at one step up, but any defence is automatically Crap in the next round.
          ii.Attack
          iii.Change Posture – from kneeling to standing or lying, from lying to kneeling, or from standing to lying. Those lying down are at -1 to defend.
          iv.Dodge/Parry. There is no All-Out Dodge/Parry, that's simply two Dodge actions.
          v.Fancy Stuff
          vi.Intimidate/Taunt
          vii.Move (up to the character's normal limit in combat conflicts, not applicable in non-combat). Combining this with Dodge/Parry gives a 1 step bonus to Dodge/Parry.
          viii.Observe – the character takes an action to view the field of conflict, to check on the status of others involved. Normally a character involved in a conflict is at -3 steps to Awareness of things other than their opponent.
ix.Ready Weapon. Two-handed weapons, and missile weapons, require an action to ready after using them to Attack.
          x. Size Up, spending a round assessing the opponent so as to gain a step up in the next round; this can be done once only in a single conflict.
          xi.Support, acting in support of another character as their Second (see below).
     III.If the Attack or All-Out attack exceeds the Dodge/Parry, then a wound may have been struck.
             i.If a wound was received, check to see if the victim is Knocked Down.
          ii.If the victim is Knocked Down, and is wounded while Knocked Down, then check to see if they are Knocked Out.
          iii.If the victim is Knocked Out, and is wounded while Knocked Out, then check to see if they die.


Being Struck
If the character is struck, the wound may be one of three kinds: bruise, smash, or splatter.

Bruise is from things like fists. It might only be called, "bruise," but it's quite a bruise, the kind footballers go off the field from. This is also the damage a character will receive in social conflicts; it's an emotional bruise! Non-Combat conflicts can only do Bruise damage.

Smash is from things like baseball bats. Bones are being broken here.

Splatter is from things like swords and fireballs. There's blood, and screaming.

When the character is struck, they have to check to see if they are Knocked Down.

The check has the following difficulties:


Skills and Aspects will be relevant here. Physical and Combat injuries are checked against by Resilience. If you have no relevant Skill or Aspects, then it's just an Ordinary check. So, yes, 3 times out of 5 an untrained person who gets Bruised falls over.  "Falling over" in non-Combat conflicts simply means that the person is reeling, about to go down, close to defeat. If the character succeeds in this Performance, there was no injury.

If the character is Knocked Down, and is struck again, then make another check at the same difficulty again to see if the character is Knocked Out. Being "Knocked Out" in non-Combat conflicts simply means that the person is defeated. If the character succeeds in this Performance, there was no injury.

If the character is Knocked Down, but not Out, they can make a check each turn, at the same difficulty, to see if they can get up again. Otherwise they're lying on the ground holding the bit that got hit and moaning, curled up in a ball crying, etc.

If they do manage to get up, then they suffer no penalty from your wounds, until the combat is over, or they have a chance to catch their breath. Then the adrenalin drops out and the pain kicks in. Bruise will give the character an automatic one step down on all their Performances; smash will subtract two; and splatter will subtract three. This of course assumes the character is not receiving any medical (or other) treatment, and just staggering around holding your bloody nose or whatever.

Once they pass out, it's usually time for the physician. Bruise they will wake up in 2 plus dF hours feeling awful. Smash they will wake up in 12 plus 4dF hours, hopefully in hospital. Splatter they might never wake up – hope your buddies have some kind of Physician skills.

Once Knocked Out by a Splatter wound, if not treated by the time they'd normally wake up, the character must make another check, or die. A Knocked Out character unprotected by others may be dispatched automatically by their foe.

If a character gets a Crap result on a Resilience (etc) check, the wound goes up a level; Bruise becomes Smash, Smash becomes Splatter, and Splatter causes Knocked Down to become Knocked Out, and Knocked Out to become Dead.


Armour
Some things act as armour, depending on how they're harming you. Being drunk will usually be armour against a Scop's attack – "huh? What's he saying?" -  while a leather byrnie will be armour against spears. Armour has the game effect of giving you an automatic one or more steps up on the Performance Ladder against that injury, to check if you fall over.


Hit Locations
Hit locations in Combat conflicts may be random, or they may be targetted by an Attack or All-Out Attack.


Where the victim was struck can be relevant for determining recovery, etc. For example, a character who received a splatter wound on their left leg, once it is bound and treated, they will have a three step penalty only to actions using that leg, thus for combat conflicts, but not for intellectual or social conflicts.

Wounds to the Head or Abdomen are automatically raised a level; from Bruise to Smash, from Smash to Splatter, and from Splatter to automatic Knockdown, or Knockout, or death. Thus, only Splatter wounds to the abdomen or head can cause accidental instant death.

Wounds to a leg must be resisted at a step higher for the purposes of Knockdown, but not Knockout.

Wounds to a limb may have permanent effects. If the wound on the limb is Bash or Splatter and caused a Knockout, a recovery performance of the normal level must be achieved, or that limb is permanently out of use.


Self-Sacrifice
If a character chooses to suffer a wound, then they can get a bonus to their Performance. A Bruise grants a single step, a Smash two, and a Splatter three. Armour is no protection against this. It represents the character exposing or straining themselves in the conflict.


Second Skill & Supporters
Where a second skill may be seen as supporting the primary skill (eg when a character jumps out of a tree at their ambushed enemy, their Jumping supports their Spear skill), the Second grants a bonus step to the skill's use. This must be a different skill in each round of the Conflict, though the same skill can be used many times in a multi-round Conflict.

Another character may act as Second. This takes one of their two actions for the round, and the other may not be anything other than Dodge/Parry, Move, Observe, or Ready Weapon. They must Support with a different skill in each round of the Conflict, though the same skill can be used many times in a multi-round Conflict. As noted above, there can be no Thirds or Fourths, etc. Where more than two stand against one, the others can but wait their turn, Sizing Up their foe.

In this way, a character using a Second Skill, with another character acting as Second, may get two bonus steps to their Performance.


Physician
A Physician may treat Combat and Physical wounds. Acting against a difficulty of Fair for Bruises, Middling for Smashes, and Good for Splatters; success makes the wound become a level better (Splatter to Smash, Smash to Bruise, Bruise to Healthy). Otherwise the character will heal each wound away, taking a month for a Splatter, week for a Smash, and day for a Bruise. Wounds of different levels may heal at the same time (eg the Bruise you got from the lost chess game heals at the same time as the Splatter you got from the sword), but multiple wounds, each one beyond the first adds a time period, eg a character with two Splatter wounds, one in their left leg, the other in the right arm, would take two months to heal them to Smash, and then two weeks to Bruise, and two days to full health.


Fate Points
Fate Points are gained by,

• Showing up on time
• Roleplaying – don't tell us what's on your character sheet, show us!
• Bravery – something personally challenging to your character. This could include notfighting, depending on your character...
  
• Constructive – contributed to the story moving forward in an interesting way. This is also a player award, for hosting the game, bringing music or other props, etc.
• Journal – a record of what happened, usually as your character saw it.

Fate Points can be spent as follows:

• To get a one step up on any Aspect or Skill test.
• To get an extra two actions for the character (eg two All-Out Attacks, or two Dodge and Attacks, etc).
• To lower the severity of a wound by one level – Splatter to Smash, Smash to Bruise, Bruise to healthy; once per wound only and only after the combat is over.
• Serendipity – someone or something convenient for the character shows up.
• 2 Fate Points spent grants another player a single Fate Point.
• Cancel another's spending of the Fate Point.

Character Improvement
If the character does not adventure, then every decade of their life they will substitute one Aspect for another (roll of 1 or less on 4dF), or add a new Aspect (roll of 2 or more on 4dF). They will gain a level of skills each year until they roll 3 or 4 on 4dF, then they will stop as they've reached their personal limit (due to lifestyle, willpower, etc).

If the character adventures, they will gain Fate Points. With these, they can,

Gain a new Aspect (5 Fate Points)
Change an existing Aspect (3 Fate Points)
Gain a new Craft & Lore Skill at Fair (3 Fate Points)
Improve an existing skill
Crap to Terrible, 3
Terrible to Poor, 2
Poor to Ordinary, 1
Ordinary to Fair, 1
Fair to Middling, 2
Middling to Good, 3
Good to Excellent, 4
Excellent to Outstanding, 5

Looks pretty alright, JB.  I'm interested by the idea of a campaign wiki.  What's your experience been with those?

Quote from: fonkaygarryLooks pretty alright, JB.  I'm interested by the idea of a campaign wiki.  What's your experience been with those?

I've found them quite useful... if you have quite active players.

If you have players who don't read the game rules, just show up, roll dice, eat cheetos, talk shit then go home leaving behind nothing but empty bottles and doodles on bits of paper, then a wiki is useless.

If you have players who like to write backgrounds for their characters, write journals, search for in-theme images of their characters, read books about the setting, email the GM with questions, etc - then wikis are great!

Of course, in practice, most groups have a mixture of players, and few of them are at either extreme.

You can see the sorts of things we've done in the "campaigns" section of the gamecircle.org website in my sig.

Hey, JimBob -
Would you mind sending me those rules as a word document? I'd love to have a copy - they look great!
mattormeg(at)gmail(dot)com

In exchange, I'll send a copy of the G&G rules when they get a little more solid.

Sent, but of course it's bundled with the setting stuff, which may or may not interest you... I don't think all of my players have read it, but you know what that's like...

Hey there, could you send me those as well please?

Quote from: BalbinusHey there, could you send me those as well please?

No.

Why?

Quote from: vBulletin MessageSorry! That user has specified that they do not wish to receive emails. If you still wish to send an email to this user, please contact the administrator and they may be able to help.

You see, this is why I put my email in my sig...

Quote from: JimBobOzNo.

Why?

You see, this is why I put my email in my sig...

Oops.  I shall email you.

Coenred
Huscarle to Eorl Godmund of the House of Osric, in Tiwesdaeg
Wyrd:  10

Aspects
Chisel-Jawed [] Fair
Huscarle [] Fair
Nemesis [] Fair
Quick-Tempered [] Fair
Strapping [] Fair

Skills
Awareness Fair
Axe Fair
Climbing Fair
Initiative Fair
Intimidate Fair
Jumping Fair
Lovecraft Fair
Resistance Fair
Shield Fair
Stealth Fair
Sword Middling
Unarmed Good

Equipments
Woolen trews, linen tunic, woolen tunic, leather boots, heavy leather byrnie (1), runed seax (0 splatter/smash)

Things of Importance
Place: A spot in the Ogre's Bones, where he was set upon by a wolf, and slew it unarmed; that night he dined on the hero's portion at the feat.
Person: Gerda Osric, the daughter of the Eorl Godmund, who holds for him an unrequited love
Thing: Runed seax, inherited from his father, whose runes mean naught to any man.


Notable Relationships
Gerda Osric Crap / Good
Sergeant Berthun Fair
Huscarle Alric Middling
Giorgius' Siegbercht Terrible
Giorgius' Egric Poor

--------------------------

Aldfrid
Apprentice Scop to Eorl Godmund of the House of Osric, in Tiwesdaeg
Wyrd: 10

Aspects
Crafty [] Fair
Fat [] Fair
Helpful [] Fair
Scholar [] Fair
Sharp-Eyed [] Fair

Skills
Brawling Fair
Bronding Law Fair
Bronding Runes Middling
Engineering Middling
Folklore Fair
Harp Poor
Oratory Middling
Physician Middling
Rhetoric Middling
Singing Poor
Throwing Middling

Equipments
Woolen trews, linen tunic, woolen tunic, leather shoes, seax (0 splatter/smash), hiking & striking stick (1 smash/2parry)

Things of importance
Place: Study, where words are read and written
Person: Scop Octa, hjis master, who hounds him for his incompetence
Thing: Diary, wherein he records all

Notable Relationships
Scop Octa Poor
Gerda Osric Fair

___________________________

Radmund the Fiscere
Fisherman in the Shire
Wyrd: 9

Fiscere [][] Middling
Restless [] Fair
Daring [] Fair
Diplomatic [] Fair

Skills
Swimming    Middling
Oratory    Fair
Net    Fair
Fishing    Middling
Seamanship    Fair
Survival    Middling
Shipwright    Fair
Drawing    Fair
Tracking    Fair

Equipments
Woolen trews, linen tunic, woolen tunic, leather shoes, seax (0 splatter/smash)

Notable things
Person:   Radmund's brother, Gerdric the farmer. When their only uncle died a few years ago the brothers agreed with their family that
Gerdric, older than Radmund by a couple of years, would inherit all his land. This suited both the brothers perfectly; stolid,
down-to-earth Gerdric wants nothing more out of life than the comfort and stability of home and family, while restless Radmund couldn't bring himself to settle down to such simple pleasures. As boys, the brothers were great friends and rivals. Gerdric has
settled down from youthful hijinks; Radmund has not.

Place:   A cove on the far side of the lake from Tiwesdaeg, where for years Radmund tried and failed to catch a huge and crafty pike he calls Old Hook. When he finally managed to catch the fish, it took him hours to land him, and by the time the struggle was over Radmund's respect for his foe had overtaken the desire to catch him, and he threw the defeated pike back. The incident only made Old Hook more cunning, and Radmund hasn't seen more than a flash of the fish since, but the cove is still his favourite fishing spot, and the scene of his private triumph.

Thing:   A map of the shire of Tiwesdaeg, patiently drawn by Radmund over years of roaming about the village and its surrounds. It's hard to make an accurate map drawing on hide with charcoal, but Radmund has been refining it and improving it constantly, carefully drawing in every geographical feature of interest he's stumbled across. The possibility of learning to write runes is starting to intrigue him, as it would be much easier to write the names of places on the map than to draw a little picture to represent every distinct feature.

BEGINNINGS

We're using FATE, as you know. We have

Player-characters

• Aldfrid, the Sharp-Eyed, Helpful, Crafty, Fat and Scholarly Scop who cannot sign or play music.
• Coenred, the Strapping, Chisel-Jawed, Quick-Tempered Huscarl.
• Radmund, the Restless, Daring but Diplomatic Fisherman.

In the beginning, we saw Coenred brawl with his fellow huscarl Alric - Strong As An Ox - over the "hero's portion" at dinner, and achieve victory by several hammer bows against the head of Alric; Alric took this in good nature, and they remain friends. Egric began composing a ballad of the fight.

After dinner, they went to the tavern within the walls of the manse, and there saw a visiting merchant, and his guards and lackeys. The merchant, plainly a foreigner, called Giorgius, has olive skin, a beautiful black glossy beard and hair, and only smiles and nods, never speaks. He only sometimes murmurs to his snivelling weasel of an assistant, Siegbercht, who acts as his agents in the town of Tiwesdaeg. He is also accompanied by a tough old warrior, Egric. Aldfrid asked them of the lands they'd come from, "the cities to the south." Egric replied that they were glorious places, "not like this dungheap." Coenred took offence at the land he had sworn to defend with his life being called a "dungheap", and there was a tense moment as Egric and Coenred stared each-other down. The tension was broken by Aldfrid saying, "my friend here is quick-tempered, but a good and honest huscarl. Why, just this evening -" and then he began recounting the ballad of Coenred's fight with Alric.


THE MYSTERIOUS MERCHANT

Giorgius is in the Shire to buy wool, and cattle hides. He came selling tin and spices. On speaking to Offa the wool merchant, who sat there puffing his pipe of tobacco by the oil-soaked tarpaulins covering the oily wool, they found that Giorgius had offered and paid a high price for the wool, without any haggling. Added to his never speaking and his foreignness, the part found this extremely suspicious. On returning to the tavern, they found Drechta the Taverner cleaning up, and standing in the doorway looking puzzled. "What's the matter?" "Some of my coin has gone missing - but only the foreign coin, the coin I was paid in by Giorgius' men. Not all my coin, just the foreign stuff." This only added to their suspicions. They returned to Offa to tell him, "where do you keep your coin?" and alarmed he told them to begone.

The next evening while drinking at the tavern, hot words were exchanged between Egric and Coenred, and Egric bodily dragged Coenred out of the tavern and onto the cobblestones around it. Steel glinted in the lantern-light as Egric drew his seax, and called on Coenred to do the same. This Coenred refused. Jabs and parries were exchanged, while Aldfrid ran to fetch Reeve Gwylbraeth. The Reeve arrived to find Coenred on the ground clutching a bleeding leg, and Egric helping him up. The strapping huscarl complained that Egric had fought an unarmed man, while the stout mercenary replied that it was hardly his fault if a man, called on three times to draw his seax, did not do so. The Reeve averred that this served Coenred right, and sicne honour was satisfied, walked away. Coenred limped back into the tavern leaning on Egric's shoulder. Aldfrid attempted without much success to treat the wound, but Radmund fetched the apothecary, an old woman who treated the wound properly, and said that it would be well within a week.


THEFT OF HISTORY

The party drank on, but their relaxation was interrupted by an alarm. Rushing (or limping) to the keep, they heard that the Eorl's Forsleanaxe - the one, it is said, with which he slew the dragon - and the Maestgold (or that remaining after building the keep) had been stolen. Of course they instantly suspected Giogrius' party. The Reeve Gwylbraeth orderered that the gates be closed, and everything within the keep be searched. This they did, finding no trace of the axe or gold. In the morning, they would search within the walls of the Manse, outside the keep itself.

After this search within the keep was completed, they went to bed, but Coenred, suspicious of the merchant Giorgius, decided to rise, and wake Scop Aldfrid, and find the fisher Radmund. This he did, and they determined to go outside the Manse into the common pasture where Giorgius' mule train was camped with his muleteers. But the gates were locked and guarded, and the only other way out was through the hole in the wall beside the midden-pile; not a pleasant trip. They went to the gate and there found two Daughters guarding, the short, red-haired and extraordinarily plain Acha, and the tall, blonde, plain but cheerful-faced Witta. With Coenred's chisel-jawed, strapping physique and soft words, the Daughters let them through a small side gate. Stepping outside in the moonlight they saw the mule train camped out. They saw immediately that with the guards and the muleteers, it would be impossible to search it without being seen.

Radmund got a fish and shared it as a meal with a muleteer, asking them where they'd come from, and what manner of man their master was. He discovered a little more than they already knew. Giorgius was from "the Empire" on the mainland, far away, and never spoke to anyone except Siegbercht, and that never within anyone's hearing. But he was a generous master, always paid on time, and did not drive them too hard over the plains. Nobody liked or trusted Siegbercht.

The party returned into the manse, and there Coenred and [Wilfrid's one-session character whose name I forget, some huscarl] applied their seductive ways to Acha and Witta, and had a quickie, Coenred and the tall blonde Witta in the guardhouse, and [?] and the short plain Acha up against the gate. Aldfrid and Radmund stood a discreet distance away, whistling to themselves and talking about the weather. On returning to the keep after their loving, the party saw two figures ahead. Aldfrid with his sharp eyes recognised the Eorl's daughter, Gerda - she who held the unrequited love for Coenred. She was passing something to Siegbercht. On their approach, Siegbercht turned and walked away and past them, not looking at them, off to his quarters at the tavern. The party approached Gerda and asked what she was doing up and about at this time of night. She asked them, "And what are you doing up and about now?" They continued in this manner, each telling the other nothing.

In the morning they arose early for the search. Radmund, not being art of the keep, had slept in the stables, and was awoken by the spray of warm horse's piss by him. Coenred was awoken by his Sergeant Berthun (who is, incidentally, Scop Aldfrid's father), and Coenred could not be awake without awaking his friend Aldfrid, ounding on his door in the chill grey before dawn. They searched within the manse's walls, but again found nothing. When they came to search the tavern where Giorgius, Siegbercht and Egric stayed, they ran into some trouble. Coenred had come to Egric's room - Egric stood in the doorway, shaking his head. "You'll not be searching my room, boy." Coenred called for the strong as an ox Alric, "Search his room!" and went to deal with the less threatening Giorgius and Siegbercht.

In Giorgius' room, they found that Siegbercht slept at the foot of his master's bed, like a guard to the Cyning; they were shocked a merchant should be treated so. They rummaged through his things, though he was loath to part with his own pouch, which contained tobacco and much coin. Alric entered the room, and without looking up from the pouch of gold, Coenred asked him, "Did you find aught in Egric's room?" There was no reply, and Coenred looked up to see Alric with a black eye staring blankly at him. "He did not wish to be searched." Alric sat down on Giorgius' bed, on his fine silkin tunic which was laid out for him to wear.

Coenred went to find Sergeant Berthun, to explain that Egric would not have his room searched. "That is well within his rights," Berthun said. "The law is only for men of the Shire. If one who is not the Eorl's man does not wish to be searched, we cannot compel him." Coenred averred that dirty foreigners should have no rights anyway, and cursed and limped away.


SEARCH AND DEFECATION

The evening, Coenred continued being obsessed by the evil of the foreigners, muttering many foul comments about thieving foreigners across the tavern over his ale. These comments ceased when Egric asked him if he wished for another bout. Aldfrid and Radmund stepped over to exchange a few words, and ask about foreign lands. Coenred determined to go searching Egric's room for himself, announced that he had to use the privvy, and limped away down the corridor.

Radmund asked Siegebercht, "So why is it that your master never speaks for himself? Does he not speak our language?"

Siegbercht replied, "My master is one of the Faithful. He follows one god only, as do I. The Law does not allow the Faithful to speak to or touch unbelievers."

"But you speak with us."

"Aye, but I am only an initiate, not one of the full members as yet, it is a slow way for some. Other times it is kept slow, so that the Faithful may have dealings with unbelievers, with ones such as me to act as their voice and hands."

Aldfrid muttered to himself something about so much fuss being made about Giorgius' not speaking to them, and they could have just asked earlier instead of all that drama.

Stepping quietly into Egric's room, Coenred found only personal effects, a plain chain byrnie, sword and helm. He cursed Egric muttering to himself. "Mercenary to a foreign dog who does not speak to us, pays a high rate for wool without question or haggle, steals back our coins after paying us with them, challenges me when I insult him, and beats me, too, dirty swine..." Coenred decided to relieve himself in Egric's helm. "Hope he puts it on his bald head, give him something squishy to pad it." He dropped his trews and set to his task.

In the tavern proper, Egric was being chatted to by Aldfrid, and Egric looked up suspiciously. "Your friend has been some time in the privvy. Perhaps we should check on him?"

"Oh no," said Radmund, "I feel rather ill. Perhaps it was the stew?" He got up and ran down the corridor calling, "I think I'm going to throw up. Oh no, it's COMING. Watch out, it's COMING." A ruffle and stumble was heard in Egric's room, as Coenred hastily donned trews and looked around for a window – there was none. He slid under the bed, heart pounding hard.

Egric, followed closely by a sweating stuttering Aldfrid, stalked to his door and flung it open. His helm wobbled back and forth in the middle of the room, something warm and unpleasant in it. He looked down, and slowly began to turn purple.

"What?" cried Aldfrid, "Those damn kids! They're always doing that. Hey! I think I saw them run out that way!" and pointed. Egric let loose a howl of rage and ran out of the room, followed by Aldfrid as his guide. A trembling Coenred emerged from under the bed, and joined Radmund. They walked out into the tavern, and paid no attention as Siegbercht looked thoughtfully at them, Giorgius smiling slightly as always. Coenred made haste to return to the keep.


THE EORL'S CHILDREN

Next the party went to visit the Eorl's daughter, Gerda. Her meeting with Siegbercht still puzzled them. What business might she have with a merchant's lackey? Her door was answered by her lady-in-waiting, Milda. They spoke plainly enough.

Coenred said, "Gerda, we have known one another since we were children, playing together."

"Yes," she replied, "But you play with me no more." This was true, for the beautiful child Gerda had grown into a plain and pudgy woman, while Coenred had grown into a chisel-jawed, strapping man, who had many admirers, and could not trouble himself with only one woman, even were she the Eorl's daughter.

"Well, it is difficult to play with a woman who does not tell me all."

"What secrets do I keep from you?"

"Your dealings with this Siegbercht, who I believe seeks ill against this land."

"Do not fear, Coenred, I am loyal to all my family. To all of my family." She emphasised with serious face "all".

Aldfrid frowned, and tried to remember her family history. "Do you mean your brother Robert? He left years ago. When your mother died bearing you, and we began fighting the Rethes again, and your father fell into that sadness, then Robert went away to join the Rethes, did he not?"

"Aye, he did. But I am loyal to my family."

Coenred gestured to the others, and they stepped outside, closing the door behind them. He began speaking sweet words to Gerda, drawing her to him by force of gaze. As she tilted her head up towards him to kiss him, lips parting, eyes half-closed, he asked, "Do you know where your father's axe is?" Her eyes flicked open and then narrowed, her mouth closed in a set and angry line, and she slapped him, hard, almost knocking him off his feet in surprise.

The courtship of Gerda suspended once more, Coenred retired from the room leaving a weeping Gerda behind him. Outside, Aldfrid and Radmund had questioned Milda, but she would not say much, keeping the confidence of her lady. She rushed inside to comfort her.

Wandering outside into the night air, they put together what they knew. Aldfrid recalled that one rumoured cause of the split between the Rethes and the Brondings, was that though they had been brought together by the marriage of Eorl Godmund and Gail, daughter of the chief of the Elk Clan, they were split over inheritance. Among the Brondings, property and titles passed from a man to his nephew by his eldest sister; without such an heir – as Godmund was – the land would pass back to the Cyning for disposal. But among the Rethes, property passed from father to first son, or failing that, to closest male heir. So far as the Brondings were concerned, Robert (as they called him), first son of Godmund, should inherit the title of Eorl of Tiwesdaeg. Though the exact cause of the split was unknown, and probably mostly due simply to having no living Gail to be a bridge between the peoples, such matters were probably significant, not least to Robert himself.

They concluded that it might be that Robert sought the Eorl's place, and sought the Maestgold and the Forsleanaxe to give him some legitimacy. They guessed that Gerda herself might support this move, since as it was, she faced a future with no position or title, but with her brother as the Eorl, she would do well under either inheritance law.

The party called this a good night's work and went to bed.


THE EORL'S TREASURE FOUND

In the morning they remembered the midden-pile, with small space under the wall for the filth to ooze out. They went outside the walls and along, and poked through the dung, bones of slaughtered beasts and vegetable refuse. In it they found a large leather sack with metal jingling. This they opened gently with the butt of a spear, and saw the glint of much gold, and the shaft of the Forsleanaxe.

They looked up to announce their find, and carry it back within the manse's walls, and down at the corner they saw Siegbercht who pointed an arm and cried, "the thieves! I have found the thieves!" For their part, they cried, "the gold and the axe! We have found the Eorl's treasure!"

Siegbercht turned to run into the manse, and Aldfrid, moving surprisingly fast for one of his heft, chased him down, Siegbercht tripping over when he looked back over his shoulder. Aldfrid leapt at him, striving to drop his eigtheen stone atop him, but Siegbercht deftly slipped out of the way, leaving Aldfrid face down in the mud before the gates. Coenred and Radmund stood over the leather-wrapped treasure among the dung and filth, reluctant to grab it, and also wanting to appear aloof and not grasping when others came.

At length Sergeant Berthun came out with several huscarls, and Siegbercht waved his arms about frantically and accusingly, saying that they had stolen the Eorl's treasure. "Why would we steal the Eorl's treasure? What use his axe to us? And we could not steal this gold? More likely you yourself secreted it here, to take away later." They forbore from tying the accusations to the Eorl's children, thinking in impolitic at this point.

Berthun looked back and forth between those arguing, and ordered Coenred to take up the treasure and bear it inside. They went into the manse, the other huscarls escorting them, and found Eorl Godmund himself standing before his mead hall expectantly. "Place it before him," said Berthun, and Coenred bowed, "My lord, we have found your treasures," lowering the sack to the ground, and opening it gently.

Godmund leant down and picked up the Forsleanax. A strength came into his arm as he wielded it, and a light in his eyes. Ever had they seen him sad and sombre, but now he came to life once. "Who took it from me?" he asked, his voice strong and deep.

"My lord, we say it was the merchant and his men."

"That is a lie! It was these men, consumed by ambition!" cried Siegbercht.

"Well," said Godmund of the House of Osric, Eorl of Tiwesdaeg, called "Kin-Slayer," "that is something that shall have to be decided at the Moot."