Castle Cerwyn
In one of the Guest rooms in castle Cerwyn is Jerrod, lying down on a bed right now.
I Look at the ceiling of the room. Lord Cerwyn guest Room is quite rugged with a few creature comforts. Most of the room is decorated with rustic furniture and hides from a large variety of creatures.
The Bed itself is pretty extensive. Instead of pillows and blankets, animals hide take over their job. The room itself is okay but needs way more stuff to be good in my eyes. This bedroom needs more luxury items in the room like Feather pillows and proper velvet carpets, but I shouldn't complain about the situation since Lord Cerwyn is letting my Inner circle stay in his castle for free.
Lord Cerwyn has been a good host for us. He's been treating us quite well by providing food and drink for us at no charge with us staying in his castle. We agreed that my group would pay for any food and beverages for the main party, so we don't cause any local peasants' problems.
Many men complain that the weather is too cold, so we brought many hides and fur to keep them warm. We have to purchase extra firewood to keep the fires roaring. Lord Cerwyn says that the nights in the north are pretty dangerous, with people dying in their sleep because of the cold. He says that there is still in the summer, which is the best weather they're going to get until winter comes.
At the last supper, I talked to Lord Cerwyn about information regarding the Seven kingdoms history and any information that would be important to know. To answer my questions, he brought his maester in to answer most of my questions. The maester he brought in is called maester Rhodry. I asked maester Rhodry who the maesters, where they came from, and their duties to lords in the Seven kingdoms. He explained to me that maesters are an order of scholars, healers, messengers, and scientists. To become a maester, you must learn in the city of oldtown, and you must learn from a place called the Citadel. So it seems that maester does many roles in the seven kingdoms and knows quite a lot about this world. Maybe I should Visit Oldtown so I can find a way back to Quenelles.
I mainly asked questions about the history of the Seven kingdoms and who is the current king. Maester Rhodry told me about the Targaryen dynasty and the man who conquered the six of the Seven Kingdoms, Aegon the Conquer.
Aegon the Conquer called him after he conquered six kingdoms in Westeros, being the first man to do in their history and the man who started the famous dynasty.
The Targaryens came from a place called Valyrian, a place somewhere in another continent called Essos. He said that they started as simple sheepherders before they manage to tamed dragons. I wonder how they did that. Only a few humans have ever tamed dragons, with Karl Franz taming on in recent history with the imperial dragon. He went to say that the Targaryens are the last of the dragon's lords because the Doom of the Valyria happened to them. A massive catastrophic event that destroyed Valyria and the Valyria freehold became known only as 'the Doom' laid waste to the Valyrians, their capital city surrounding lands. The peninsula itself was shattered, becoming what is now the Smoking Sea. Every dragon was thought to be lost, as were the Valyrians' spells, knowledge, and recorded history. Thus, the mighty empire collapsed. He said this happened about 400 years ago. For a powerful empire to fall like that out of nowhere, it seems that black magic must be involved, or they fell from grace, and their gods punished them.
With that, the Targaryens became the last of the dragon lords of this world. Maester Rhodry says that the Targaryens did incest marriages to keep their blood pure. That is revolting to me, and my Bretonnia senses that married to your sister or brother is a crime against The Lady and nature. Good thing whats left of the family have left Westeros.
After that, he told me how the Mightly Targaryens fell with Robert's Rebellion that happened 15 years ago with Robert killing Rhaeger at the Trident and the death of the Mad King Aerys. Maester Rhodry told me tales of Robert skill in warfare, where he won three battles in one day. Robert was able to persuade the lords he defeat that day to join his army. He must be a charismatic leader and convince men to join his army right after beating them up. After the battle of Trident, people nicknamed Robert the Demon of Trident because of how fierce he fought in the battle with his Warhammer, with him being able to smash men with one Hit. I want to speak to King Robert face to face to see if this man lives to his tale. With Robert winning the war, he became the next king of the Seven kingdoms, and his blood is now running Westeros.
After that, he told something quite peculiar about the seasons in Westeros. What he told me shocked me quite a lot. He told me that the summer and winter season last for years instead of a couple of months. Maester Rhodry says that summer can last a couple of years with ample harvest throughout the year, but the winters will last the same amount of years. He tells me the winters in the north are particularly brutal, with snow being 6ft deep, food becoming scarce that people starved to death and people freezing to death.
The weather reminds me of Kislev and Norsca, which has strange weather patterns in the old world, ranging from dark, bleak winters to hot blazing summers.
After that, I told information him regarding the Old World. I told him about the many races and countries in the old world. Maester Rhodry had a quill and paper ready to write down any information I said. He said to me, "It is my duty as Maester from the Citadel that I write an account about your stories from your homeland because this will be the first time that a maester would have wrote information regarding your homeland".
I told him about the fair kingdom of Bretonnia, the land of Chivalry. I said the Bretonnia is an ancient country in the Old World and has withstood the test of time for nearly two thousand years with the founding of the kingdom by Giles Le Breton. I told him the incredible story told throughout GilesLe Breton's ages on how he unites all the tribes in Bretonnia by saving them from the Ork menace that was plaguing badly back in the past. Master Rhodry look like he was interested as I regale the legend of Giles.
I then told him about the Great Crusade against Araby when the sultan Jaffar invited Estalia and Our great king Louis the Righteous, called an Errantry war on them until Jaffar killed by a Bretonnia Lance. The stories of the Great Crusade are off legend with the stories that my father told me about them. My father told my famous events in the crusade, the eight-year-long siege of Magritte, where it was believed the god Nyrnida intervened to win the siege for the crusaders. The shameful sack of Copher one of the most shameful events in Bretonnia history, with chivalric values forgotten by the knights. Finally, in the great battle of Al Haikk, the knights of the Bretonnia and the empire defeated the army of Sultan Jaffar and ended the life of Sultan Jaffar. Maester Rhodry took note of what I said about the crusades expressing surprise at how crusaders can go to wars for years in the hot deserts of Arabry.
I then told him when Bretonnia was hit by Red pox, a terrible disease where bloody welts appeared on the victim throat and face. The Victim would suffer a long a painful death over a slow, agonising week. After finishing that story of the plague, he told me of a similar event that happened to Westeros a hundred years ago, and it was called the great spring Sickness. While the Red Pox ravaged the southern Dukedoms, as it killed thousands of peasant and noble people. The menace from below emerges from below, nearly destroying the south half of Bretonnia. Southern Bretonnia was saved by the timely arrival of Duke Merovech and aid from the wood elves of Athel Loren. I then said in a grave tone that Duke Meroverch was falling to the dark Magic of Necromancy and vampirism.
When I told him about the Skaven, the dark arts of Magic and Wood-elves, it looked like he didn't believe me at all.
"What do you mean about the dark magic," he said to me in a surprised tone and with a face to match it.
I replied to him in a severe tone, "Magic may be gone in Westeros, but it is alive and well in Bretonnia with grail damsel be able to use magic for good, but it happens vice versa with people using magic for evil".
I continue, " One of the foulest dark magic in the old world is necromancy, where the user can use their arcane power to corrupt the creation of life by being able to resurrect the dead into an undead monster for their evil will. Or they can use the magic to drain the life force from people, turning them into a shivered corpse. Most know this as the path of the dammed because there is no turning back when you take this". Maester Rhodry seemed pretty scared when I said that people who have the power of necromancy could raise the dead and use them to do what they will.
"What a haunting thing you have told me, Duke Jerrod. With people being able to resurrect the dead and drain life force people from people, how do your people stand against this darkness" he said in a dark tone.
I looked at him straight in the eyes and said in a calm tone, "I give my body, heart and soul, to the Lady whom I seek. No plea for help shall find me wanting. No obstacle will stand before me. No evil will taint the lands bequeathed unto me. When the clarion call is sounded, I will ride out and fight in the name of Liege and Lady. That which is a sacrament, I shall preserve. That which is sublime, I will protect. That which threatens, I will destroy, for my holy wrath will know no bounds. Honour is all. Chivalry is all. Rejoice, for we, the Knights of Bretonnia, will be your shield". I said to him the combined vows of knights of Bretonnia. What I told him seems to calm his nerves.
"Well, thank you for saying that it has calm my nerves," he said back to me.
He then finishes writing an account of what I said to him on this day. I had a quick look at what I said. It seems he has written a full proper account of what was said today. It seems they have a different calendar system than us. We use the imperial calendar as its use by nearly everyone country in our world. They use another calendar system than us. The way they measure time is by Aegon conquest instead of Sigmar coronation. I ask the current year in Westeros Maester Rhodry, and he answered back that the year is 298 AC. After talking for a couple of hours, Maester Rhodry said it would best we retire for the night.
That was yesterday, and a new morning has come now. I stood up and got dressed in Bretonnia noble attire. I heard a couple of knocks on my door and listened to a light tone female voice from the other side of the door. I thought to myself. It must be a young servant.
"Excuse me, my lord, but it's breakfast time. Right now. Your knights, Lord Cerwyn and his family, are dining room right now waiting for you". she said in a shy voice.
I reply to her, " I will come down to meet them at breakfast. Thank you for the reminder". After a couple of seconds, I left the room and went towards the dining room.
The Dining room itself is pretty tiny, with a large oak table being able to fit around 12 people. The room's decorations were sparse, with a few furs of bears, wolf and deer hides acting as carpet. There wasn't much on the walls other than a few animal heads and the family banner with the house words, which are Honed and Ready.
The people seated at the table waiting for me to sit down are. Lord Cerwyn and his wife are placed next to each other, both quite old. They have two children who are seated next to each other. The first is their eldest and only daughter Jonelle. Jonelle looks are she is a plump lady in her late twenties or early thirties from the looks of things. She is a nice lady from the few times I spoke to her yesterday she seemed to be enamoured by me. Their second child is a boy called Cley. He looks like a young lad, similar age to my younger brother Charles. He seemed to be quite interested in the swordsman skills of the knights and the tales they told him.
On my side were George Crete, Miles Bourdon, Pierre Pidoye, my friends, and two senor knights of Andre Monmet and Alex Flatlet. George, a man who likes to talk a lot, recalls a story when we stumble upon a stone troll on a hunt. He talks about how we slowly corned the creature in the mountains as we slowly broke the stone skin of the troll before one of us skewed the troll. Then, the brain immobilised it so that we can burn the troll to death before it regenerates. The north party seem to be very interested in the story because they haven't heard what troll are because there aren't many magical creatures left in Westeros unless you go north of the wall.
Servants brought breakfast in for us. As we dine on the breakfast, a simple dinner as we head bread, mead, bacon, and fish, a conversation happen over breakfast.
Lord Cerwyn said to us with pride, " Well after day in the north, what do you think of it, men of Bretonnia".
I reply to him, " Well, the place is cold as hell, the food isn't as elegant as the food I am used to, and you guys are rough personality, but what have you done for my men and me. You guys are very honourable with treating and letting strangers stay in your castle and lands. I then looked across the table, and my lords and knights agreed what I said, with all of them say aye in agreement.
The answer I gave to Lord Cerwyn seemed to beam him with pride. "Well, lad, we are a bit rough with people, but I like your answer," he said back in a joyful tone. With that, we continued with the breakfast.
After breakfast, as we were about to leave maester, Rhodry came into the dining room and said this to us." My lords, the raven has come back from Winterfell with a message.
I looked at maester Rhodry and said this to him in a somewhat excited tone " Well, what does the scroll say".
Rhodry pulled out the scroll and read aloud what the scroll said " Greetings Duke Jerrod d'Asareux, we have been told that you are a guest at Lord Cerywn castle. The scroll says that you have brought a small army with you, and you are from a land that no maester nor books know off. I lord Eddard stark warden of the north and King Robert of the Seven kingdoms wish to meet you in person to have a reasonable opinion of you and your army. I will provide you and your army with food and shelter for the time being. I hope to hear a response from you soon.
Your's sincerely Eddard Stark".
With that said to us, I looked at my men and said, "Rally the party we set off towards Winterfell to be the lord of the north and the king of the seven kingdoms." About half of my knights left to rally the small army that came with me while the rest stayed.
Lord Cerwyn approach me, and He said to me in a happy tone. " Lad, let me come with you to take you towards Winterfell. You and your men are don't know the north. Let a Northman take you, Winterfell, so you don't get lost. It's a full day ride from here, Duke Jerrod." He said to me happy tone.
I looked at Lord Cerwyn In the eyes and said to him, " I see no problem with you guiding me to Winterfell. It's probably best that someone who knows the north takes me to Winterfell instead of using a map to get there. Thank you for taking us in your time."
He replies to me, "It's no problem, lad".
"Well then, it's best we set off as soon as possible. It's time we show you how powerful and fast Bretonnia warhorse is in comparison to your horse". I said with a bit of pride.
"Before we leave, I should say my thanks to your wife for providing rooms and food for my men and me," I said to Lord Cerwyn. I then walked towards Lady Cerwyn and said to her, " Thank you, lady Cerywn for providing food and shelter. You look after complete strangers from another land without too much thought to it. Other people may think of it as foolish, but in the lands of Bretonnia, you did the virtue of charity. You and your family are friends of my Dukedom." I said in a clear tone.
She seemed surprised with what I said to her and said this in response." The guest right is an ancient tradition in Westeros, and we north take our traditions very serious but thank you for what you said", she said in a cheerful tone.
With that said, I started to get ready to leave towards Winterfell with Lord Cerwyn and the army.
Somewhere in the Riverlands
Next to a river, a warband of Greenskins come out of the forest. The greenskin warband has a banner of Red axe and black background. The greenskins come off the brush to see a village on the riverbank.
"OOOOi Boss, we saw a Hummie village over there next to a river. They have a lot of gobbins over there and shinnys there as well." Said a ork boy in a loud voice.
" Wwwweeelllll, there better be a good fight ready for us there Nothing but weak Hummies so far". as he said that he tosses a human skull on the floor with smash top half. "Aright bbbboooyyyys Get ready for some stomping on some hummies to the ground," he screams out.
With that, the Greenskins did a WWWAAAGGGGHHHH and started to charge the village.
The people in the village heard a strange noise they didn't recognise but after a few seconds, they knew what was happening as a strange big brutish creature started to attack them. They tried to mount a defence but it was too late to stop the greenskins rampage.
Guest - thank you. I have been slowly improving my writing and grammar.
Kingofthesummer - Eddard will be dealing with many things with Westeros, but Chaos won't be too much of an issue compared to other problems that I have planned. It's improbable that Jerrod and Dukedom would join the seven kingdoms in his lifetime. Sigmar in the old lore wasn't able to persuade the tribal Bretonni to join him. Sigmar was a beast of a man. So it's unlikely they will join the seven kingdoms. They would only join the kingdoms over time like Dorne, maybe, but it would take ages.
I'm still looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested send me a message.