After defeating the evil wizard, Sir Rudy departed on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Oswald. Despite the delays arising from his garrulous companions, our hero led a group of pilgrims past scenes of battle and bandit-infested woods. At the shrine, Rudy's wounds were healed.
Refreshed, Sir Rudy continued his travels. He arrived at an inn where he hired a warrior named Mordret. From there, he was challenged by a recreant knight in black armor. Rudy defeated him relatively easily. The shaken knight fell to his knees and begged for quarter. Rudy relented, although he required the knight to deliver himself to King Arthur and pledge his fealty.
As he proceeded on his travels, Sir Rudy encountered a villages stricken by poverty or plague. Touched by their plight, Rudy tried to help. Alas, they were not sufficient to alleviate all the villages' needs. He also came down with the plague and took some time to recover. At least, Sir Rudy reflected, he was able to do a little to help. In another village, angry peasants challenged Sir Rudy. He gave them the Unicorn Horn and won their respect.
Rudy and his companions also faced deadly challenges. One night, three hell hounds attacked. Rudy was wounded but the heroes killed the beasts. Another time they were ambushed by bugbears. These too were defeated, although the enemy killed Rudy's retainer, Edric. Rudy and Mordret also ran afoul of 3 ogres, who wounded Mordret before they were slain.
But Sir Rudy's biggest challenge came one day when the heroes discovered a smoking cave. Rudy peered in then ducked away as a massive beast charged forth.
A dragon!
Rudy charged, skewering the beast with his lance. The lance broke and the dragon soared by, gashing Rudy with its talons. Again it swooped. Rudy ducked and slashed with his sword, wounding the beast again. This time the dragon opened its mouth and belched flames, which licked about Rudy. He could feel his armor heat up and his skin burn. Yet Rudy fought on, scoring another couple of hits. Blood gushed from the wounded beast. With its last reserves of strength it flew away in a panic.
Sir Rudy was disappointed that he could not finish off the spawn of Satan. Yet he rejoiced when he searched the lair. Amidst a pile of coins and jewels, he discovered a an exquisite, magical sword. Its marking revealed it to be the Sword of the Fisher King! Rudy also discovered a human tooth.When he picked it up, Rudy could feel a surge of holy power. Clearly it was a relic, perhaps the tooth of St. Oswald himself!
Sir Rudy was pleased with his successes. He could feel his prowess increasing. Yet he felt no nearer to the Holy Grail. Would he ever find it?
Find out in future episodes of Sir Rudy's Tale
Looks like Rudy is doing really well! Rudy actually resolved a "hidden" sub-plot; the horn originally belonged to the peasants who used its magic to ward off beasts etc to protect their village and flocks. The evil wizard through trickery stole it off the peasants. The peasants, in great anger, raided the countryside for it, until they came across Rudy who was able to return it.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Sir Rudy did not realize it at the time but that makes sense.
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