The Knight of the Crossing

Across the Dagger Sea, the party arrived in the Provinces, but not before the half-breed Deathstroke managed to offend the captain and crew. On the voyage across the sailors first filled his ears with tales of shipwrecks and treasures beneath the waves. Consumed by the lust for this fantastical booty, he begged and cajoled the captain to set anchor so that he might ply the depths. Instead, he was dragged behind the ship for miles and roundly mocked. Once back aboard, he offended and threatened many to the point that they bound and gagged him and left him with his companions on a stretch of sandy shore without even benefit of a port.



Walking inland, the party came across the Old Shore Road and began making their way south toward the Provincial Alds. Over the course of many weeks they had minor adventures but moved ever Southward toward Shamsel

Outside of Ald Giancolis, the party fought giant centipedes which emerged to eat them in the night. They also encountered several strangers along the road, some of which felt imperiled and intimidated by the savage Deathstroke.

In Shamsel, one of the ramshackle new cities at the southern end of the Provinces, the party sought rest and comfort in the local public house. There they entertained an invitation by a man who claimed to have a map of a nearby ruin and a great treasure hidden therein.

The treasure he said, was a helm, sword and breastplate belonging to a great warrior of a bygone age. The man had previously hired ten adventurers who had been gone ten days, though the ruins were but a day and half off. Given the time he feared them lost. As the party appeared to the man to be of stouter stuff, he offered to hire them, instead. He said he would pay 2 Westrun crowns a day, plus a full share of any treasure found (excepting the aforementioned sword, helm and breastplate).

As the ruined city was supposed to be on their way back to Eastrun, the party agreed to work for the man and left after a few days provisioning.

The first encounter was to be waylaid at a common bridge by a Hedge Knight calling himself Roger of the Crossing. No one would pass, Sir Roger said, unless he were offered a monetary gift for each traveler and each horse upon his bridge. The river he claimed, was too treacherous for passage.

Brumbar the Paladin rode into the river and espied the caltrops buried there, before making the opposite shore and then returning to challenge the Knight of the Crossing. The two men had just agreed to a fight to the death when the impetuous half-breed voiced an uncommon objection. His feelings were seconded by Hannah the Sacred Sister and the terms were reset. If Brumbar were to lose the combat, the party would pay and Brumbar would surrender his armor to the hedge knight. But if Sir Roger were to lose, he would quit the crossing and seek a new source of income.

Brumbar was victorious, but Roger was smote too grievously to be abandoned by the side of the road. Instead, the party waited by his side for him to recover. Once he was on his feet, they bid him farewell and left for the Ruined City.