692. Kingmaker I

692. Kingmaker I

“Robert?” the boy asked, staring up at the half elf.

“That’s your name now.”

“The name’s Bobby, sir.”

“That the name your pa gave you?”

“Yes...”

“You want to keep that name, or do you want to be Robert?” Adam asked. “Robert is more refined, and you’re going to need it.”

“Fined?”

“Refined. More... noble.” Adam smiled.

Robert narrowed his eyes towards the half elf, though squirmed under the man’s gaze, before he pulled up his blanket and made to sleep. The boy remained thinking about what Adam had done for him. He had fought against nobles for him. Nobles! How can he do such a thing?

Adam went back to napping too, before he was awoken by Jurot, and the four of them made their way with the Baron to the shrine. A knight and a pair of guards followed them to the top of the hill nearby, still within the walls of the castle, where a tiny ruined shack hidden within the woods lay.

Once Adam stepped within the musky shack, dust kicking up all around them, illuminated by the moon. He noted the markings on the floor, glowing from the moonlight flooding through the broken ceiling.

“Not going to lie, thought it was going to look fancier than this,” Adam admitted.

“The shrine was always quaint,” Baron Moonglow admitted, awkwardly. His eyes scanned the four who seemed to be almost wide awake.

“Alright, so, I’ll figure out how to enchant, and then I’ll try to teach you another time,” Adam said, his eyes falling across the shack. “About, uh... you know. Earlier in the day. I was hot headed, and got a little...” Adam cleared his throat. “Hitting kids around me is a bad idea.”

“You are more idealistic than I thought.”

“Yeah, well...” Adam sighed. “Either way. I’m sorry, Lord Moonglow.”

“Understood, Sir Adam.”

Adam could still see the displeasure in the Baron’s eyes. ‘He’s probably pretty close to betraying me.’ “I’ll be sure to work hard on enchanting this sword.”

“As you say.” The Baron left, taking his entourage with him. He was too tired to deal with Adam, especially since there were so many moves to be made.

Enchanting Check (Intelligence)(Moon Shrine)

D20 + 9 = 8 (17)

Omen: 6, 20 -> 6

20 + 7 = 27 (20)

Adam plucked a Thread of Fate, a crow fluttering over the shack, a bloodstone within her beak, and thus Fate was forever changed.

The half elf held onto blade the Baron had offered to him, sitting under the warm moonlight. He remained silent and still as he felt the moon’s glow, which caused his entire body to tingle. He opened his eyes to see the moon’s light had all but disappeared from within the room.

Runes faintly glowed on the blade’s steel.

‘What?’ Adam blinked, glancing around, confused. ‘Did I fall asleep?’

“Okay?” Jurot asked.

“Okay,” Adam replied.

“I will sleep.”

“How can I help you, lordship?” the chief asked. He was a young man, no older than twenty, but he wore his ancestor’s armour with pride, and carried a spear in hand. He stared up at the Baron with the confidence only a foolish youth could hold.

“I have come to assist your village,” Lord Moonglow stated. “I have heard that your lord was recently killed, and I have come to extend my offer.”

The chief glanced across all the soldiers, and raised his brows. “Your offer?”

“You will swear yourself to me. Nothing will change, save that you will have someone living to lord over you, rather than a foolish baron who got himself killed by extending himself too far.”

“Heard the young lady took over.”

“She will be relieved of her duties.”

The chief threw a look to Adam, slowly chewing on his thoughts. “That the killer?”

“That is Sir Adam, who indeed had killed the Baron for his betrayal.”

“Don’t know about no betrayal, but heard he killed the Night Terror.”

“So he claims.”

“Suppose you have to be that strong to kill a bunch of knights,” the chief said, planting his spear into the earth. “You’ll need to speak with the baroness, but you can stay the night.”

“Will you guarantee us?”

“Aye, I will.”

Adam, in his near exhaustion, passed out almost immediately with Robert. The others took their watches, with Zee and Jurot’s steed also keeping watch. Somehow, the Baron hadn’t decided to betray them so far, but things always changed when darkness came.

Omen: 1, 15

“Looks like they were prepared,” Adam said, noting the soldiers who had stepped out to meet them halfway between the village and the town. There were easily a hundred soldiers, each as hastily brought together as Moonglow’s forces.

“It seems that way.” The Baron stared at his opponents, almost outnumbered two to one. He rode up to meet with the enemy lord, each of them flanked by their entourage. Adam followed on his horse too, too curious to stay behind. “Only my knights are to escort me.”

“I’m more than your knight, Baron,” Adam replied, almost chuckling.

“You bring to me my father’s murderer,” the young woman said, wearing her grand armour. Full plate, intricately detailed, certainly made to fit her rather than being passed down through the generations. “Not in chains, but on a steed?”

“Sir Adam is my knight,” Lord Moonglow said.

“He’s a wicked fiend, a Night Lord!” the young Baroness snarled.

“He is no Night Lord, and though he may be wicked, he is no fiend,” the Baron stated, firmly. “I ask that you surrender to my authority, so that-,”

“Surrender to your authority? You, who surrounds himself along with my father’s murderer?” She undid her visor to reveal her tan skin and angry green eyes. She spat on the floor between them. “Curse on you! Curse on your father! Curse on your son! Surrender under my authority, and perhaps I will show you mercy!”

“Then it’s to blades.”

“It’s to blades,” the young woman confirmed, raising her sword, which seemed to be made of earth.

‘Damn, that’s a nice sword.’

*Checks sword stats.* Damn, that is a nice sword.