Banecroft and Ironhand
Written by: Sir Baron Diamond, requested by Sir Tetch in public missives.
Would Baron Diamond please relate the story of Iron Hand,
Date: Sent out December 20, 1005 the threats made to the Barony, and how, ultimately, that threat ended? Thank you, Tetch As you will, Sir Tetch. I confess I am fond of this tale from the distant past. According to my notes the incident occurred in the spring of 1095[Iawen notes: so 995 M.R., really] Like many big things, it began as a small thing. One day, after fighter practice, Gwen of Banecroft approached me with a disturbing report. Apparently she had refused the attentions of one Count Carius, a noble in service to Lord Ironhand. After Taithan's passage from the Realms the year before, Lord Ironhand had drawn much of Taithan's swords to himself, and could now regularly field 50. And that was in a time when all nations were smaller than they are now, so it was proportionately ever more impressive. By contrast, Banecroft was then of modest size, and could bring only five to the field: Gwen, Kedric, Finn, Veros and myself. Gwen reported that upon her refusal, Count Carius grew wroth. Moments later he pressed into Gwen's hand a note. The note was a death threat to me: "Baron Diamond will not live past the Tourneys of Creathorne!" Then Carius snatched the note from her hands and tore it to pieces. Gwen collected the pieces and brought them to me. We attempted to follow the chain of command to deal with this disturbing death threat. I sent Veros Wyvernsbane, then my second in command, to the fighter practice frequented by Lord Ironhand and his followers. Veros was instructed to act as Banecroft's emissary and to ask Lord Ironhand if he supported this threat against us, and if he did not support it, would he please reign in his errant follower? Veros's report to me was chilling. According to Veros, he made our plea to Lord Ironhand. In reply, Lord Ironhand said, "If the Baron and all his people swear fealty to me and turn over all they possess, then I'll call off my dogs! Otherwise, should you my followers see Veros again, kill him!" Suddenly we found ourselves planning for the fight for our existence at ten to one odds! Things were different back then than now. Nowadays given the messengers we have, we would have been able to plead our case and find some support or at least make our plight known to any sympathetic ear. But we enjoyed neither the messengers not contacts we do now, and we feared ignominious destruction. As we drew our plans, we knew well that our fate would be decided in the first three minutes of the event known as Tournies of Chiron. We did what we could to prepare. We scrounged for every scrap of armor we could. We were all present, and each had their assignment: to hit site, separate and quickly make our case known to many of those we hoped would find our cause just. But before we could even reach the center of the tourney location, we were addressed by - stopped by- Lord Ironhand himself, surrounded by followers. The moment of truth was at hand, and he wanted to talk to me. At this point I had to make a difficult choice: our plan and best hope depended on others knowing the truth of what had befallen us, and I well remembered the result of Veros's parley. On the other hand, Ironhand's men blocked our way, and to attack first would undermine other's perceptions of our cause. Warily, with our men looking on, Lord Ironhand and I talked privily... Happily, Lord Ironhand wanted to make peace. No one can know his motivation: did he have a change of heart? I like to think that he saw the determination in my follower's eyes and that is what caused his reversal of policy, but no one can say. His reply to Veros's overture was explained away as mere personal friction with Veros, not actually Lord Ironhand's national policy. However, I can say that shortly later I learned we were not the first small nation Ironhand had threatened. In later days of relaxed tension Lord Ironhand boasted that his threats had successfully intimidated several small nations into swearing their fealty to him (including Thorn Valley, who later became our close friends and allies). On the other hand, we were apparently the last nation he was able to try that tactic on. Despite terrible odds, we were not going to give in, and he had seen that. It was very shortly after that his nation separated. He had dreamed of uniting the Realms by any means, but once that was beyond his grasp he was easy to get along with and the peace between us was without tension. Only a few months later that same fall, Veros and I both trusted him enough to join the questing party Ironhand led as part of the larger effort to recover some armor (the final item needed to defeat Zermarks) from a dangerous alternate plane of undeath. We were in his men's power that day, but had no cause to fear our trust was misplaced, for peace had well and truly returned to the land, at least for a while. Baron Diamond Banecroft |
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 03-10-10 03:22 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 03-10-10 03:23 PM