I awoke to the sound of a shrill horn blasting in the distance. Sudden memories of the night before came flashing through my mind. I jumped in a hurry to escape my tent.
“Sounds like he’s awake.” One of the voices outside said though I didn’t know which one.
“Who can sleep with all that racket going on?” Another replied, groggier than the first.
I hurried to throw my clothes on. It wasn’t much. Just a pair of black scrub pants I’d asked my mom to pick up and a white pirate shirt I’d found in an old Halloween costume that still fit. Pulling my boots into place I unzipped the tent and crawled out. The scent of cooking bacon assaulted my nose almost immediately.
Brian was sitting upon his ‘kingstone’, I’d learned the large rock was called. A cast iron skillet was suspended over the morning fire with a mixture of crumbled bacon, onion, peppers, mushroom, and eggs that were still mostly liquid.
Justin and Chad weren’t far from the firepit, dressed and armed for the day’s events. I had no idea where Chris was.
“Morning guys.” I said, closing the door and making my way to the bench that wrapped the firepit. “What’s going on down there?”
I got an assortment of greetings, one of them from a hammock strung between two trees and several feet overhead. I now knew where Chris was.
“It’s the new guys.” Brian stated flatly, leaning forward to stir the eggs. He tossed in a handful of shredded cheese and laid some bread on a flat stone at the fire’s edge.
“They started raiding about an hour ago. Fender’s Shield has already fallen. They’re attacking Shadgull now.”
“They’re baiting us.” Brian corrected. “Chris, get down out of the tree. It’s time to eat.”
I turned, watching the youngest among us grab hold of one of the trees. I’m not entirely sure how he managed it but he dismounted the hammock and hugged the rough bark. In no time he was on the ground with hunger in his eyes.
Brian grabbed a stack of metal plates and began loading them with the scrambled mixture and a couple pieces of bread each. I felt a kinship seeing he’d made a plate for me as well.
It took no time to finish the delicious meal. Turning it into a sandwich seemed to be the fastest and easiest method of consumption. I spent the following few minutes watching these ‘warriors’ get dressed for battle.
Chad was easily the most armored among them. He had a solid metal half-plate that covered his upped chest and the entirety of his left arm. The rest was covered in a mixture of chainmail and leather. He also had more weapons strapped to his person than I knew what to do with. I knew upon initial glance that he didn’t intend to run out.
Next in line was Brian. He wore a leather and metal suit that covered him from shoulder to knee and metal plates that protected from the top of his boots to the bottom of his knees. Leather bracers covered his arms from wrist to elbow and he had metal helmet with a tuff of fur sticking from the top. Two curved swords hung on each hip and a large shield that was bigger than my entire body was slung across his back. He wrapped his fist around a menacing looking mace with three protrusions evenly spaced along the head. Giving it a few test swings, he smiled his agreement.
Chris wore a pair of brown leather breeches, a white shirt, and leather armor that looked similar in design to Brian’s. A bright red tabard covered most of the armor and was held tight by a tanned leather belt with a collection of shriveled black triangle looking things hanging from the buckle.
Now that I noticed it, that seemed to be a common theme among them. These three anyway. Brian had more of them than anyone else. They hung from his necklace, around his belt, off the bottom of his pouch, and a few along the handle of his mace and shield.
Of them all, Justin was the simplest and most elegantly dressed. He wore a pair of blue plants, a white shirt, and a tan leather vest. His weapons were also simple and elegant. He’d elected to go with a single rapier, though it had a broader blade than most, even for the foam variant. And he had a dagger sheathed beside it.
I felt out of place. These guys looked bad ass, dressed for war. I was a kid wearing basic clothing that looked better than normal clothes, but still underwhelming. I carried two basic swords and a dagger that I’d picked up from the pile. In all, I was out classed, both by appearance and durability.
Armor held a specific point value. The combat rules were simple. Body hit was death. If you got hit in a limb, that limb was gone. We had a three limb death system, though the way I’d understood it most games used two limb death. I liked this one better. It prolonged the fight and allow a few additional tactics. A basic weapon, which was pretty much every weapon on the field, dealt a single point of damage. There were a few that did more, but they weren’t overly important.
In essence, a weapon that delivered a single point of damage to the body equaled death. Armor prolonged that. Basic leather was worth two points. That meant, if wearing it, it would take three body hits to kill someone. If you were already an amazing fighter and wearing armor on top of it, I couldn’t fathom how difficult it would be to take someone out.
On the other hand, enemies were likely wearing armor as well. At that point it basically became an equalizer rather than an advantage. Either way, I was the peasant getting involved in a war of knights.
“You boys ready to do this?” Brian asked, adopting a serious and stern glare?
“Yep.” Justin replied.
“Let’s go!” Brian started down the hill, Chris and Chad behind him.
I looked to Justin, unsure why we weren’t following. He smiled at me.
“We have a different job. Just stick by me. You’ll understand soon enough.”