Thread: A Lord's Quest (JmBz and Sheepy)

It had all started rather simple really, in hindsight. Lord Daniel Chaucer II had been given an important task by his father, the king of House Chaucer. They were indeed a noble house, he had explained to his son, but they were not a particularly well-known one. Countless tales have been written and many songs have been sung about the other houses of the realm, but none of House Chaucer. But, that will soon change, Daniel's father had stated, looking down at his son with piercing eyes. There have been reports of a dragon that has been terrorizing the northern lands, residing in Tolien Mountain. Many people from many houses have attempted to slay it, but none have been successful. He had paused for a moment. I want you, my son, to travel there do what everyone else could not do, and bring fame to our House. The young Lord's eyes widened as the words of his father sunk in. But father, I-- he started to say, before he was silenced by the raising of the elder Chaucer's hand. I would not bestow this quest upon you if I didn't have the utmost faith in you. Now, I know it will be a long-and no doubt dangerous-journey ahead of you, but I believe that you will not let me, or your House, down. Daniel was silent for a moment, looking down at the floor as his father's words echoed through his mind, a quiet sigh escaping his lips before he made eye contact with his father once more, his left hand clenched into a fist. I accept this quest that you have given me, Father, he stated, a determined look in his eyes. And I shall make sure that the entire realm will soon know the name of House Chaucer. With that, the preparations began for Daniel's journey. He chose a horse-out of the many that occupied their stables-for him to ride on during his journey. She was one that he had grown particularly fond of while tending to her, agile with a nice chestnut-colored coat. He strapped his flatbow onto the back of his armor, stocking up the quiver with arrows before attaching it as well. He looked at the longsword his father had passed down to him, admiring the two sapphires embedded into the hilt before sheathing it. He was given three satchels by the servants, one of them containing a week's amount of food, the second containing enough gold for him to last a month, and the other having supplies for him to repair and oil his armor and weaponry. Securing them to the backside of the horse-who he had named Chia-the young Lord then saddled up, giving one last wave to his House before riding off. That had been three days ago. Daniel's travelling those days were uneventful, riding through the towns that were to the north of House Chaucer, gathering what little information he could about the dragon this far away from the northern lands and resting at some inns. At the moment, however, he had stopped Chia in her tracks, looking down a road that was surrounded by forest. He unfurled the map that his father had given him, looking it over for a few moments to deduce his relative location. According to the parchment, the woods were a sort of border between the nation that House Chaucer was in and that of the elves. Daniel admittedly did not know that much about the elven people, having only read about them in the brief mentions he had seen in history tomes, which were several hundred years old. And any questioning about them to his father lead to terse reactions at best, the elder Chaucer having a somewhat bigoted view of the elves and their magic-using ways, or magicka users in general, really. The young Lord did not share his father's prejudiced outlook on such things. He was more curious about them more than anything. He was mostly worried that him entering their nation, if only to head north, would cause an incident he was more skilled with a sword than with diplomacy. He looked over the map again, his brow scrunching a bit in thought. There did not seem to be any alternate routes north from where he currently was-well no horse friendly ones at least, and heading east, north, and then west to Tolien Mountain would just make his long journey even longer. Well, I guess we'll have to take our chances, huh girl? he said, looking down at Chia, stroking the horse with one hand as he slid the map back into one of the satchels. He then took the reins of the saddle, giving them a gentle whip as he and his horse ventured onto the wooded road.