Bretwalda - The Abbey of Brixworth pt.2

The beleagued denizen of Brixworth have hunkered into the Abbey in preparation for an imminent raid on the village. Wyne of Brixworth is leading the efforts to navigate the Earldorman's estate out of its destruction via the payment of Danegelt. 

Location: Brixworth, Danelaw's territory, former Middle-Angle kingdom.

Time: Harvest time (around September)

Character Cast:

• Wyne of Brixworth, convalescing one-armed thegn. (Dan)
• Edlyn, Abbot of Brixworth. (NPC)
• Holt, coerl and caretake of the estate. (Alex)
• Ingram of Brixworth: Danish adoptive son of the Earldorman (Jason).

Story

The villagers stood shaking in the hollowed nave of the Abbey. It felt like the howls of the Abbot's seizure could never die down and that God was on the brink of turn his back on his flock of sheep. Wyne was pacing along the walls as the others tried to assess whether they could muster 70 silver coins as payment. Most of the Earldorman's cash was gone in an attempt to purchase food for the village. Lady Ora offered a small chest of silver and bronze trinkets.  The Abbot added 15 coins, Holt surrendered in full his meager 5 coins. Wyne reluctantly shoved more silverware into the chest until they felt that the payment was complete. 

It was late. People were whispering in the warm darkness about the Abbot. Edlyn reassuringly congregated the denizens into the nave and addressed the situation. God was with them without a doubt. He pointed at the two danish horses and explained that they'd be used as bargaining chits along with the silver. God had given them the horses. He explained that God also had challenged him with these fits and that this was his cross to bear. The tension eased and the women and children returned to their makeshift beds. 

At first light, the watch woke the Theign. There was a plume of smoke to the North and to the south suggesting small campfires. Wyne, Ingram and Holt decided that it would be best to remove the grotesque body of the murdered dane that was hanging from a tree at the Southern edge of the village.  Ingram rode ahead of the others to discover that the body had been removed already. They could hear riders in the dry brush of the forest to the East and hustled back to the Abbey. 

When the danes arrived, torches in hands, they opened the chest some 3m from the Abbey's door. Holt stood towering over the loot. Wyne took a step forward as the danes were poking their head into his home some 200m down stream from them. Ingram held the horses to the back of the others. Only five danes trotted to meet the Angles. The Angles knew that they were short of cattles and a cart of food and hoped that the silver would suffice. 

Kollsvein was the danish leader. They stopped some 20m from the Abbey. Ingram began to explain the deal: the danegelt would be paid, but on the whole meatless. His danish was rusty and awkward. The danes were making fun of Wyne's missing arm and Holt standing like a peacock over a tiny box of trinkets. Ingram was just a kid, the situation degraded into bursts of laughters. Kollsvein called his men to plunder the helpless Angles. It was a mistake...

The Abbot, from the steeple, shot Kollsvein and hit his leg. The other danes charged with overconfidence. Holt's mowed down two of the charging horses with his great axe while Wyne lodged his spear into Kollsvein who fell off his mount. Ingram climbed on his horse after snapping out of a panic, disarmed one of the fallen rider and chased down another. As Holt was regaining his breath from having a hoof kick him in the junk (dice can be horrible sometimes), the danes were rallying to make an exit. Edlyn's arrow hit the leader once more. His lifeless body slipped off its slouch over his mount as the others escaped to the south. 

The tussle off the door of the Abbey. Note the upside-down horse bitching
about a broken leg. What a wuss!

Ingram lay on the ground with a spear still stuck in his chest. Hrothgar ran out of the Abbey to contain the bleeding and get the spear out. Ingram was cold and white and without the grace of God would have died on the spot. 

Aftermath
Both Ingram and Wyne suffered from mild infections and were convalescing when the Earldorman returned 5 days later. Life had returned to normality since the raid. However, the two mortally wounded danish horses were slaughtered and turned into number of feasts. More food was brought from the south by the Earldorman as well. 

No denizen of Brixworth had died, no property lost. Three danes had perished as well as two of their horses. The Angles had gained two horses as well, and one Danish prisoner who eventually would be ransomed to a relative for a few live sheeps. 

What could have gone wrong did not. Largely because the PCs looked so much like a joke that the Dane raiders didn't bother mount a proper attack on the Abbey.  

Bretwalda - The Abbey of Brixworth pt. 1

Location: Brixworth, Danelaw's territory, former Middle-Angle kingdom.
Time: Harvest time (around September)
Character Cast:

• Wyne of Brixworth, convalescing one-armed thegn. (Dan)
• Edlyn, Abbot of Brixworth. (Martin)
• Holt, coerl and caretake of the estate. (NPC)
• Ingram of Brixworth: Danish adoptive son of the Earldorman (Jason).

Story

It had been a terrible harvest in the kingdom of the Middle-Angles. People were starving, although the whether was more to blame than the Danes.  The ground in Brixworth was bone dry, the crops had failed, the cattles had to be sacrificed, and so was about half of the sheep's herd. A Dane raid to the south had caused much damage. The Earldorman, answering to the call of  neighbor, had left to the south a few days ago with his fyrd made of most of his able-bodied men. Wyne of Brixworth, a thegn, had to stay behind to recover from the amputation of his left arm.

Abbey of Brixworth, 9th century.

Wyne was drinking watered down wine when a horse walked out of the forest up from the southern road. He reached for his spear and headed to meet the animal. The horse belonged to the Earldorman. The saddle had signs of damage made by a blade. Some dried blood was caked in the weave. He lead the horse to the Earldorman's homestead. Lady Ora confirmed that is was one of the Earldorman's horse, but not his personal mount. They headed to the Abbey with the kids and met with Abbot Edlyn for a conference.

Later into the morning, Wyne was walking to the southern edge of the estate when a number of Danes arrived into view. Hey mocked the one-armed Saxon in their own language. Wyne was livid. The Danes demanded a cart full of food, 70 silver coins, and all of the cattles and sheeps. Wyne lost his cool and tried to engage the leader. He only received mockery for it. They promised to come back on the following morning.

The trio, soon joined by Holt, a ceorl (freeman), discussed the possibility of a Dane raid. They settled on moving the valuable assets and the people to the Abbey. Ingram, the Danish adopted son of the Earldorman, came back from a long horse ride to the North. He probed the southern approach. Ingram intended to ride south to make contact with the Danish camp. However, he ran into a pair of sentries camping at the edge of the woods and decided to head back to the Abbey. A watch to the North confirmed that the Northern road was also covered by a pair of Danes.  The Saxon decided to mount an ambush on the sentries under the cover of night. They relaxed in the cool of the Abbey while the sweltering heat cursed the world outside.

The ambush went just ducky, giving everyone a
false sense of invincibility.

The Saxons waited for the night to mount an ambush against the sentries to the South.  Coerl Holt and Friar Hrothgar slipped through the dry underbrush and, taking advantage of a deep knowledge of the surrounding, made it meticulouslty to about 15 yards of the campfire without being detected. Wyne, Edlyn and Ingram made their way under the cover of darkness down the road. Since the Danes were huddled around a campfire, they too made it to the 15 yard line. The startled sound of an alarmed Dane triggered the assault. Edlyn' arrow hit one of the from a respectable 50 yards, followed by the spears from Wyne and Ingram. The second Dane was grievously wounded by Wyne's spear. Holt hacked the other Dane with his great axe. By the time that the last Dane was standing, he had received another injury from Hrothgar's spear and fell to the ground.

Edlyn attempted to perform an interrogation on the last one standing, but the Dane spat blood back at his face. Wyne, trying to rough him up, went into a blind rage and killed the Dane before he could spit more blood in his direction. So much for getting information from that one. That lest the other Dane with an arrow in his leg and a great axe gash in his back. Hrothgar stabilized the main wound and contained the bleeding. The Dane was, however, unconscious and on the cusp of death.

They recovered two Danish horses. Edlyn then propted the dead Dane to a tree and wrote on his shield using the Dane's own blood the word: "Cattl". He fell to a grand mal seizure before writing down the last letter. The Saxon contained him while he writhed, then took everyone back to the Abbey.

The new moon left Brixworth in a false semblance of peace. In the Abbey, Abbot Edlyn was recovering from his fit. People were talking: was it the Devil's work, divine retribution, or just the mark of a soul worned down by past atrocities? Edlyn and Ingram decided to scout to the south to locate the Dane's main camp. Holt, Hrothgar and Wyne headed North to scout the position of the sentries over there.

Ingram and Edlyn walked past the grim scarecrow and proceeded down the road until an advantageous bent. Edlyn plotted an ambush site while Ingram moved to contact further down the road. Ingram eventually ran into a group of three Danes having a meal by a bonfire. He couldn't see signs of others and concluded that the camp was much smaller than he expected. They both ended back at the Abbey for a meal and much needed sleep. Wyne and the others were already back and confirmed that two Danes were blocking the way Northward. The sentries detected them and they decided to recoil and regroup.

They were tired, hungry and stressed. However, the prospect of taking the fight to the surprised Dane was still on the table.