The Legend of the Cebalon-Dei

Sir Gwen, the Freelance Knight

Gwen slowly opened his eyes, and squinted as the radiant beams of sunlight peeped through the cracks in the wall. He slowly began to get up, and crawled out from his bedroll. He rose to his full height, stretched, and looked around to see whether anything was out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be out of order, at least for now anyway. Gwen started to pack up his tiny camp, and as soon as his camp was all neatly stowed away in his enormous backpack, he began to get dressed. He firstly put on his outer garments, which composed of a simple linen shirt and a pair of pants made of hemp. Then he put on his chain mail over the shirt and applied the metal leg guards over his pants. To finalize things, Gwen put on his plate armor over the chain mail, and clipped his belt to the armor with a simple click. The scabbard and sword came next, and as soon as they were clipped onto the belt, he covered himself with a rough and travel-worn cloak over his shoulders. Gwen was ready to start traveling again.

Gwen was what people called freelance knights back in those days. These freelance knights were more or less traveling knights, who would fight for money, although many also considered honor to be an important aspect of their services. To put it in simpler terms, he was a highly trained mercenary who would enter the services of any lord that would pay him with the highest wages. However, freelance knights had one major difference to ordinary mercenaries, in that they had a code of honor that they solemnly swore to never break. However, even in Gwen’s days, freelance knights were getting harder and harder to find, simply because there were too many orcs and other similar foul beasts roaming all over the land. This ensured that the remaining freelance knights were often offered ridiculously high wages for their services; a feature that Gwen particularly appreciated about his occupation.

Well then, let us return to Gwen and his fascinating endeavors. He was heading towards the port city of Marna on the eastern coast, simply because he had heard that an army of orcs were marching towards the eastern coast in search of prey and slaves. He had figured that a prosperous and rich city like Marna would not go unnoticed by the orcs, and reasoned that the lord of Marna would pay willingly for the services of a freelance knight. With this in mind, as soon as he was finished dressing, Gwen took his bearings using the sun, and began to head east on foot. Although he was weighed down by several layers of armor, it did not seem to hinder him at all. By nightfall, he was finally in Marna, after four days of hard running.

Gwen sought the hospitality of the nearest inn, called the Boar’s Hinds, which was only too willing to accommodate a freelance knight with golden galleons from the northern cities. Gwen had no problem settling in to the friendly and boisterous atmosphere of the inn, and spent a good part of the night drinking ale and talking about adventures and battles with fellow travelers. It was early morning when Gwen finally managed to get back to his room, and realizing with a dread that he had drunk too much, he fell on his bed, and slept. His armor and sword lay neglected on the wooden floor.