An Audience With The King

During my first week as a knight of the Rose Garden, I presented myself as the picture-perfect image of a knight. Is what I would like to say, but that would be a stone-cold lie. In reality, I fumbled rather spectacularly. A mix of my nerves and an overeagerness to prove myself led me to make more than a few mistakes regarding basic etiquette. Meaning that I spend most of my first week as a knight making a right fool of myself. But as they say, what‘s done is done. All I could was move forward and strive to improve myself. And maybe even live this down.
 
In hindsight, I should’ve just joined Allistan and Luke for a night on the town. Or as they prefer, a week on the town. In fact, after the stress of the past few weeks, it would’ve been a real relief to just let my hair down. Unfortunately, it always seems like there is something else that needs to done first. I actually started worrying that they might start thinking that I don’t want to spend time with them, which is far from the truth I assure you. Although, the thought of Luke, of all people, acting as my “wingman” as he likes to call it, does sends shivers down my spine. Gods preserve me.
 
But let us get back to the main story shall we. About a week after our adventure at the embassy, we were summoned to the barracks at Palace Hill to prepare for our audience with the king. Upon our arrival, we were warmly greeted by none other than Ser Donovan. He explained that he was there to escort us to the palace, where we would finally meet with the king. Afterwards, we were to join our respective circles at the cathedral for the knighting ceremony itself. Which would then be followed by an evening banquet in our honour, with several nobles in attendance. In fact, if we made a good enough impression, the king himself might even choose to join.
 
But before we could get started with this rather busy agenda, Ser Donovan asked us to follow him in order to receive the first gift that the king had decided to give us. They had scoured every inch of the ruins that we had discovered. But sadly, there were few clues remaining that might give an insight into the identity of other cult members or their future plans. They did however find something else of significant importance, a magical portal.
 
This portal explained how the cult had maintained its seemingly endless resources in Keralon. With such a gateway, they could literally smuggle in anything they needed. Whether that be provisions, weapons, even an entire army would not be impossible. All right under our very noses.
 
Upon entering the portal, the knights found themselves in an underground cave. They would later learn that it was in fact close to Ravensfield. Unfortunately, it had already been evacuated, leaving no further clues for us to find. With no other options remaining, the knights closed the portal for good. And while the investigation itself didn’t yield many answers, shutting down that portal would hopefully prevent the cult from striking at Keralon with such ease again.
But this wasn’t a day for heavy thoughts. Afterall, this was a day of celebrations. Ser Donovan had brought us to the stables, where we were presented with our first gift, six mighty warhorses. As a noble steed was as important to a knight as any weapon could be, had chosen to grant each of us one of his own.
 
Excited, we took turns selecting our mounts. Though I felt that Allistan might have been a bit hesitant. He’d grown quite fond of Thorin over the years, and I imagine it was quite hard for him to picture himself riding a different horse. But in my opinion, it was probably for the best. Thorin had served him valiantly, but he had come far too close to death more times than we would have liked. It seemed right to let him retire, to live out his days peacefully grazing and galloping across Keralon’s green fields.
 
When it was my turn, my eyes were drawn to a young chestnut mare. Thanks to the tricks that my mother had thought me, I was able to deduce that she was clearly a courser. And as you might expect, descendent of a fine lineage. As I approached her, I used a bit of magic in order to seem less threatening and more composed. This allowed me to raise myself into the saddle with easy and I decided to name her Idrhil, for her graceful stature.
 
With everyone seated atop of their respective horse, we followed ser Donovan towards the palace. And I must say, each of my companions certainly carried themselves with the poise and presence you would expect of a knight.
Allistan and Liliana, in particular, looked as though they had stepped out of legends—embodying the valour and nobility every knight should aspire to. Following close behind them was Dadroz. Though he didn’t really resemble the traditional image one might have of a knight, all who knew him knew that he could easily match both Allistan and Liliana when it came to honor and integrity.
 
And then, of course, there were the magical twins. They moved with the grace and authority one might expect from archmages. Appearing wise beyond their years, with an air of mystery that only added to their dignified presence. I was truly grateful to have them all by my side that day. As their composure helped to steady my nerves as we reached the castle.
 
Upon our arrival, we were escorted through a long hallway with both walls lined with portraits of previous kings. Making it feel as if these kings of old were silently judging us as we passed. And perhaps it was the way the portraits were arranged, but the family resemblance between them was unmistakable. The same strong features evident in each of them. This was especially true for the last three kings, whose portraits were so similar in fact, that at first glance, I thought they were of the same person.
 
What stood out even more was the identical scar each of them bore across their face. The only difference being that the scar appeared slightly more faded with each younger generation. I figured that there was most likely a magical explanation for this. The precision of the scar was after all too perfect to be a mere coincidence. The scar was after all too perfect across each of them to be anything but. But this wasn’t the time for such speculation, so I made a mental note to investigate it later.
As we reached the large door leading into the throne room, we were greeted by an elderly man holding a staff. He didn’t introduce himself, merely inspecting each of us one by one as he asked for our names, circles, and any heraldry we might possess. As you can guess, he was inspecting us for magical items. Not so surprising as we were just about to meet with both rulers of Keralon. Though I was glad that I had nothing more threatening than my bow with me.
 
And with that done, we stepped into the throne room.
 
Upon entering, the first thing that caught our attention were King Carollus III and Queen Adelaide, seated on their respective thrones. Next of course were the nobles, standing eagerly on either side of the room, awaiting the entrance of the new knights. And as we did, the old man called our names one by one, causing, to my surprise, our heralds to appear, hanging from the roster above.
 
When we each stood next to each other in front of the throne, the king rose to greet us. It was only then that I realized just how tall he was. Standing at least two meters tall. he cut quite an imposing figure. And while he was not what you might call traditionally attractive, he did have a quite athletic build.
 
The king then spoke, , addressing both us and the nobles alike, thanking us for our various deeds for both Keralon and its allies. And then asked us to regale all of those present with the story of how we managed to accomplish all of this.
We quickly discussed on how best to approach the king’s request. First Allistan and Hayley began by spinning an epic tale on how we were tasked with investigating the arrival of Morenthene’s forces, , culminating in our retrieval of Norgar’s stolen gem on the day they entered the city.
 
Next, Luke and I continued the story. Telling of our journey to Ravensfield in order to investigate troubling rumours of dangers that had been plaguing the village. And how, to our shock, we learned that it was in fact the same cult that was behind it all. Mind you I chose not to go into too much detail concerning Raynis and his condition. after all, we had already included everything in our report to the knights, and those who needed to know were already informed. We then wrapped up our part by recounting our epic battle against Rayl and the subsequent evacuation of Ravensfield.
 
Finally, Liliana and Dadroz concluded our tale with the events of that fateful night at the embassy. They expertly detailed not only our desperate struggle to find and retrieve Norgar, but also our climactic battle with the now draconic Robert Talespinner.
 
As we concluded our tale, the audience remained silent, clearly captivated by our story. However as soon as the king showed his approval, the silence was broken by a modest applause. He then proceeded to explain that before presenting us with our rewards, he first wished to learn more about his new knights.
 
The king first turned his attention to the De La Roost twins. He expressed his pleasure at seeing the De La Roost family once again having an active presence in Keralon. And then proceeded to offer his sincere condolences for the loss of their brother at the hands of the cursed Black Knight all those years ago. After asking a few questions about their family history and interests, he addressed Liliana directly, inquiring about her time away from Keralon. Liliana explained that she had been serving Lady Vivienne during her absence. The king nodded, remarking that he had known Lady Vivienne for quite some time, which wasn’t surprising, as she often served as an envoy for King Ulther.
From one set of twins to another, he then turned to the magic twins Hayley and Luke. Proclaiming that he always had a fascination for the mystic arts, he asked them to provide a small demonstration of their abilities. Hayley responded by conjuring magical thorned vines, while Luke summoned a massive fireball that soared into the sky.
 
Following the demonstration, the king asked Luke a few probing questions concerning his troubled past at the magical academy. In particular his conflict with Liliana’s former partner Samuel. He then issued a stern warning about infighting within his court, a caution clearly directed at both the nobles in attendance and Luke himself.
 
Next, the king’s attention shifted to Dadroz. When Dadroz expressed confidence in his skill with a bow, the king eagerly requested a demonstration. In order to do this, asked Dadroz to shoot an arrow as close as possible to a volunteer without hitting them. To choose the volunteer, the king gave the honour to Luke, testing whether he had heeded the earlier warning. Thankfully, Luke was not baited and decided to choose herald Skald instead of Samuel. Dadroz then expertly loosed a bolt from his newly gifted crossbow, missing the herald’s head by a hair.
 
Finally, it was my turn. When the king asked about my past, I explained that I had grown up in Tarn. Spending most of my time roaming the forest, much to the dismay of my parents. The king then mentioned that he had heard about me possessing a magnificent longbow and asked if he could see it. I was admittedly a bit hesitant, but knowing there was no polite way to refuse, I agreed and handed him the bow. He inspected it carefully for a moment before returning it with a remark about its exceptional craftsmanship.
 
And you can most likely guess what happened next. Intrigued by my mention of Fey, the king then requested a demonstration of my abilities. Which I obliged by calling on the primal energies that surrounded us in order to turn my body into mist before finally reforming at the door.
 
With the demonstrations over, the king proceeded to announce the gift that he would grant us. For starters, he announced that those of us who did not yet possess a noble title would be granted one. Which was certainly a surprise. But I think the nobles that were present were even more surprised when Hayley respectfully declined this offer. The king took this in stride however and even gave her a subtle insurance that the people of Ravensfield would be taken care.
Next was Liliana, who had previously declined the offer of becoming a knight. The king, knowing that she was a skilled swordswoman, granted her the right to carry her magic weapon inside of Keralon.
 
Which left us with his final gift and this one was certainly the most surprising of all. It was decree that the as of now underdeveloped district of Dogville would be placed under our care. Which was most likely what he meant when he said that the people of Ravensfield would be taken care of. Granted, seeing that this district is technically outside of Keralon, in fact it is on the opposite side of the river, I had never been there before. Graciously, we accepted his generous gift, as well as the responsibilities that went hand in hand with it.
 
With our meeting with the king over with, we proceeded to head towards the cathedral for our knighting ceremony. And while the meeting had been more informal than I had expected, the ceremony itself was certainly grand beyond words. Perhaps it was the combination of Perhaps it was the combination of the cathedral’s imposing stature along with the presence of so many knights from each circle in attendance. Or maybe the growing realization of the weight of the responsibility that was about to be placed upon our shoulders. Regardless, it was certainly a humbling experience.
 
According to tradition, each of us was presented with a holy symbol for the respective god that we each served. Now, while I give due respect and prayer to the gods, I must admit that I am not particularly religious. So, instead of a symbol of a specific deity, I was given one of the World Tree instead.
 
Symbol in hand, we each knelt down in front of the altar. Then a knight of our respective order placed his hand on our shoulder. Following this, a priest came towards us and asked us why we wished to become a knight. What was our purpose in taking on this burden.
 
And even here I must make a confession. Have you ever been so focused on achieving a goal that, once you finally reach it, you’re not quite sure as to why you started in the first place? That was the issue that I was facing. I mean naturally, I wanted to protect the innocent and defend my fellow man. But to me, those are the very basic duties of a knight. After a moment’s reflection, I answered that I wished to discover who I truly am and what my place is in this world. Perhaps not the answer the priest was expecting, but an honest one nonetheless
 
Once we had all whispered our goals to the priest, he began a prayer. During which, I felt an intense surge of pain in my shoulder. As if someone pierced my flesh with a red-hot poker. it was so severe in fact that several of my friends collapsed from the agony. in fact I had no idea how I remained standing. Or perhaps I did faint, and the shock was simply too overwhelming for me to realize it. Either way, with this, we were now official knights of Keralon. And to commemorate this, we found that the ceremony had given each of us a mark or branding on our shoulder. A divine blessing from the gods in recognition of our oath. It was, as I said before, a humbling experience that truly impressed upon me the burden of the oath that we had just sworn.
 
With the ceremony complete, the only thing left to do was enjoy the celebration held in our honor that evening. It was a welcome change from the formalities of the day. An opportunity to unwind a little and enjoy ourselves before we took on our duties. At least it was, until we heard Liliana shouting in pain. Turning towards her, we could see that lady Viviene had placed her hand on Liliana’s shoulder and was casting some kind of magic. She explained that she had given Liliana a blessing of her own, a gift as she called it, to thank her for her loyalty towards her. And while this stopped Alistan from tearing her apart on the very spot, it did cast a shadow over the evening.
 
Which is why it was most likely a good thing that, a bit later, the king asked us to join him for a bit of fun. See he wanted to see if we might be interested in a bit of a wager. He wanted us to give another demonstration to both himself and some nobles he had gathered. As an opportunity for us to prove our martial abilities. All we needed to do was beat one of two golems that he had gathered for this occasion. And as an extra incentive, he even offered to give us some additional funds in order to build up our district, should we win of course. We discussed this a bit amongst ourselves and ultimately agreed that there was no reason not to accept these terms.
 
When the golems were presented, they couldn’t have been more different. One was a hulking mass of crude steel, powered by a furnace that billowed steam. sleek and mannequin-like, forged from glass, with a large flame burning at its core. Personally, I felt like the first golem would be the better choice. As it seemed to me like it would be more of a straightforward brawler. whereas the glass one seemed like it might possess more magical abilities. However, after inspecting them, both Hayley and Luke agreed that the glass golem was the better option. And knowing their expertise in these matters, I had complete faith in their judgment.
 
We entered the courtyard, which had been cleared for the contest, and Hayley and Luke were proven right rather quickly. The glass golem went down without much trouble. In fact it didn’t even get the chance to do anything. Pleased with our victory, the king congratulated us and turned his attention back to the nobles who had gathered to watch. It was only then that I realized that I couldn’t really recognize any of them. But I simple dismissed that as a result from me being tired from the long day. At least until Hayley raised her own doubts about these nobles. Even suggesting that they might in fact be Fey. A most curious fact. But a mystery that would have to wait until a later day, as for now, we returned to the party before eventually retiring for the night.