God Wills It: The First Crusade

[Dirty Spaceman]

The prayer was not long. Without free use of his hands or knowledge of the direction of Mecca, Nadir (to his shame) could not perform the Muslim prayer ritual of salat properly, which was why he had to resort to saying whatever oral prayers he knew. He looked up when he was finished, having heard somebody enter the tent. When he saw Baudouin, he doubted that it would be fitting to speak first. He waited for his captor to address him.

[POMC S117]

The Prisoner's Tent

Baudouin had planned on allowing Nadir to speak first, but after waiting for several moments in silence, he decided to state his intentions. "We shall be moving onwards soon, I think, onwards to Jerusalem. The land is tough and much is barren, or so they say, and as I am sure you are aware. This land is foreign to all of us, save the few of the most well-travelled among our number, and even they have only superficial knowledge. What I require is a guide, a guide who must be loyal. I do not believe that torture is the most production way of instilling loyalty in one. Parlance and conversation are better suited to such matters, I believe. But a friendly spar cannot go amiss. Rise and I shall cut your bindings. Then we shall spar."

[philfredobob]

Baudouin & Nadir
As they spoke, Baudouin and Nadir both heard movement outside the tent, before two shadows seemed to take their places outside the tent's entrance. Seconds later, the same captain Baudouin had ordered away entered the tent himself, holding in his hand a blunted training sword.

The captain paused at the door a moment, staring down at Nadir with the distrust he had for the Muslim almost thicker than the earth beneath their feet. The captain snapped out of this status, and placed the sword down on a mat inside the tent next to Baudouin. ''Here you are, Sir. The sword you requested.'' He said, and afterwards he turned around and departed, not lifting his eyes from Nadir the whole time.

Evrard
Emile took hold of the note slowly, looking at Evrard with a clearly puzzled look. He read it quickly, and whilst at first he raised an eyebrow at this oddity, he seemed to accept it rather fast and a smile returned to his face once more.

''Evrard of France?'' he repeated to himself and Evrard. ''Ah, I suppose it is right of you to withhold. Why let our petty differences separate us, when we are all brothers and sisters of France?'' Emile continued, slapping his hand on Evrard's back a few times as sign of friendship.

''So!'' Emile said suddenly. ''Come! join me and my friends around our little camping spot, and share a meal! The company of such a skilled warrior would be most welcome!''

Hans
''I'm afraid to say it's might be difficult to determine who are and are not the holy soldiers they claim to be.'' Wille replied. ''It may take time to figure out their motives. More time than we may have.'' Wille continued, cautiously looking around. ''The Turks could be in any of these hills, just waiting for the right moment to pounce.'' Pausing to take a breath, Wille looked back at Hans with a changed, seemingly more serious, expression. ''Hans- Ehem, Sir Bieri - I can't help but feel this little expedition is going to end poorly for those of the 'true' faith. This seems more a war of attrition than any other kind, and if one were to ask for my opinion, I would say even the shiniest of armour will not turn back starvation.'' Wille said, concluding this statement with a raise of both eyebrows, as if hinting at the obvious.

Recomposing himself into a more military style, Wille straightened out his stance and spoke aloud with a followers tone. ''Yes, Sir Bieri, I shall gather the men at once.'' He spoke, before nodding his head respectfully and preparing to bow out the way to carry out his orders.

[POMC S117]

The Prisoner's Tent

"Excuse my captain's demeanour, and indeed that of all my men. They do not know why I refuse to execute you or to torture you, or why I even pay heed to you at all." Baudouin apologised, walking behind his prisoner. He took the sword and cut through the bindings, though he found it difficult for the bluntness of the sword.

Once done, he handed the sword to Nadir, but did not immediately draw his own sword. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on Nadir, watching for his actions and reactions, to see if he would attempt to flee or strike back at his captor.

[Derp53]

Hans sheathed his Dirk and leaned against his Halberd "I don't like the thought of losing men, thinking they're marching to their death's for a pointless cause when they could be home with their wives and children. That being said Wille, remember that as the finest of our Lord Liert's forces we must exercise professionalism, that includes keeping our discipline and equipment in check."

Hans then looked over at the camp that sprawled into the landscape and looked at the many flags waving in the breeze "I would like to meet the lord who secured this prisoner, when the men are assembled begin the inspection and send for a messenger with as much haste as possible."

[The SheoDovah]

Evrard nodded and wrote I will join you but i won't tell you any of my deeds in battle lest i run out of ink. I lost my voice to a mongrel so i took his head. He gave the note to Emile and would follow the man to his companions. He believed that it would seem a bit odd if he turned it down without stating a reason and he lacked a reason.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Nadir took the training sword, and inspected it. He could not discern what the purpose of this was on behalf of his captor, but one thing was for certain: it would take a special kind of idiot to try and escape a camp full of armed and armoured soldiers with nothing but a blunted sword. "What we do now?" he asked Baudouin, in heavily accented French. "We fight, or no?"

[philfredobob]

Evrard

Hidden:

I realise you must be a bit scatterbrained from being in so many RPs at once, Dovah, but please try and get out of the habit of repeating the same word over and over to describe the same thing. You can't keep calling them mongrels, it gets old after a very short while.

Emile read the note, at first laughing aloud as he finished the first sentence, before his face tensed with the second. ''Truly, that is quite the sacrifice. But... worth it, for the sake of cause, no?'' Emile said in an attempt to break the tension.

Afterwards, Emile lead Evrard across the camp to a small campfire spot between two tents. Around the small black fireplace which recently hosted a warm flame were two men sitting.

The first was a middle aged man, perhaps in his 40's, with short messy brown hair and and unkempt facial hair. The man had his armour removed and wore dirty clothing which seemed like the attire of a peasant, but as he looked up to see Evrard, the man's face had a strange air of nobility about it. He possessed striking features and could be considered rather good looking for a man of his apparent condition and age.

Across from the first man, there sat another. This fellow had a much seedier feeling about him, yet looked much tidier, appearing like a simple pilgrim rather than a fighter. An older fellow in his 60's, with his face sagging slightly from old age and road-weariness. He wore dark grey robes with no clear catholic symbol sown into them, but rather the symbol of the eastern Orthodox church hanging from a necklace. The old man had long grey hair reaching his shoulders and a shaved face blemished by the marks of age.

Upon their arrival, Emile immediately stepped ahead of Evrard and up to their new companions. ''Hello again, my friends! Whilst wandering the camp, I have had the good fortune to encounter this heroic fellow before you!'' Emile said, pointing to Evrard as he referred to him. ''When last we clashed with Arslan's dogs, I found myself cornered, but my good man saw this dire situation and came to my aid. I might not stand before you were it not for his assistance.'' Emile continued excitedly, his showers of praise towards Evrard followed by a short chuckle from the younger man, and a more controlled smile from the older man which seemed rather forced.

''Ach, but I forget to introduce you all properly. Sir Evrard of France, meet Sir Robert of Normandy!'' Emile calmly stated, moving his arms from Evrard to Robert as he addressed them. ''Alas, Evrard is unable to speak due to injury, but his spirit remains strong!''

The man now called Robert stood up and approached Evrard and Emile slowly. He looked Evrard up and down slowly before opening his mouth to speak. ''That's Duke Robert.'' He spoke simply, with a sly smile which he at first aimed at Evrard, before turning his head to Emile and furrowing his brow slightly. Emile responded to the whole affair with a hearty laugh, waving his hands and replying. ''His prowess with a blade is matched only by his sense of humour!''

Robert chuffed in response to Emile, then turned back to Evrard. ''Ignore him.'' Robert began, his eyes darting back to Emile for a moment before returning to focus. ''I'd shake your hand, but I like to look a man in the eye as I do so.'' He said, nodding towards Evrard's helmet.

Hans
''I'll get a messenger out as soon as I can... and don't worry, I think I can handle a simple weapons inspection...'' Wille replied to Hans quietly. He stopped before leaving, ''The Baudouin fellow shares the camp with us, so if you think you can find him before myself, you have the right starting point for your search... Sir'' said Wille, adding on the final word with a bit of forgetful disgruntlement, before nodding a final time and setting off to gather together the troops. Hans heard Wille in the distance, shouting out to the men to form up and ready themselves, and the slow process began.

Hans now stood alone in the camp of Hugh of Vermandois.

[Derp53]

Hans looked back at Wille and then pulled his halberd out of the ground "I owe Wille an ale after all this is over, I'd better write that down somewhere. Now then, lets find us one Baudouin and a muslim." As Hans walked through through the busy crowd he tapped his halberd along with his feet in a rhythmical beat as he hummed a tune under his breath, as he progressed through the camp his prior research on other nobles on the expedition came in handy as he began identifying pennants flapping around in the wind.

Finally, after a pleasant walk through the midday heat Hans reached the camp of Baudouin, not seeing the noble in view Hans tapped a knight wearing the insignia of Lord Baudouin's house on the shoulder "Excuse me, I am Hans, heir to the House Bieri in one of the Canton's near the southern German states and I hoping to meet Lord Baudouin if it I'm not too much of an inconvenience his lordship at the moment."

[All hail!]

"Come here, [&@%!]." Robert growled, grabbing the woman by the neck. He shoved her roughly onto the bed, and undid his breaches.

Spoiler:

I think I'll just fade to black here, if that's alright.

[philfredobob]

Robert

Hidden:

Oh ho ho, not so fast, me old chum

The woman put up little resistance, and landed on the bed on her back. She lay still on the bed, staring away from Robert. Seething hatred resonated from the young woman's face, even more so than fear. Despite this, tears could be seen streaming down her face quickly and her attitude became more and more agitated.

When Robert sat above her, and began to remove his garments, the woman suddenly looked straight into his eyes. Her face contorted into a mixture of rage and loathing, and her entire body began to shake. The woman released an ear piercing shriek, and her right arm suddenly rocketed towards Robert's midsection, jabbing three times in quick succession with what appeared to be a very small knife, like those which were used as cutlery. The sudden attacks caused Robert to recoil slightly.

With him distracted for a moment or so, the dark skinned woman managed to wrestle herself free from Robert's grasp, rolled out from under him, and immediately began making her way out of the tent. The short assault had left three small gashes in the side of Robert's lower left chest, nothing more than flesh wounds, but painful nonetheless.

Hans
The knight turned around, and examined Hans for a moment; as if attempting to determine the truth of his words from his appearance. Seemingly convinced, the knight looked Hans in the eye with a straight face. ''Ehem, good day, Sir....Bieri.'' The man spoke, his words slightly disjointed. ''I'm afraid our lord is indisposed at this time, he won't be able to see you.'' He continued, shaking his head slowly, and still keeping up his straight face, showing little emotion.

[Derp53]

Hans cleared his throat and bit back a sarcastic remark "In that case, I won't be a bother, however when Lord Baudouin is available I would like to begin correspondence with him, there is a matter I wish to discuss." Hans adjusted his halberd and handed the knight a map of the camp marked to show where his men where stationed "I must get back to my battalion, however my men are stationed where I've marked on this map and I'll send a messenger later, Thank you for your time monsieur." Hans tipped his steel helmet and smiled pleasantly and began at a brisk pace back to his own encampment eager to meet up with Wille and his men.

[All hail!]

![&@%!]!! roared Robert, who winced in pain at his cuts. He quickly moved off the bed and went after the women. "GET BACK HERE! I'LL SNAP YOUR NECK!"

[philfredobob]

Robert
The wiry young woman sped up into a swift sprint, quickly making her way out of the tent and beginning a run through the campsite. The woman was still breathing heavily, and could be heard sobbing loudly as she attempted to put as much distance between herself and Robert as she could manage.

The surrounding soldiers were taken by surprise. At first, most of Robert's own followers, upon spotting Robert himself being in close pursuit of the girl, stood in their place; likely unwilling to interfere with Robert's affairs out of fear. Others stood up and shouted to the woman, some yelling insults, others just telling her to stop.

After a few seconds, three of Roberts soldiers also joined him in pursuing the girl. Robert was slowly catching up, but his soldiers would reach the woman first.

Hans
The knight turned away from Hans and walked away, saying no more in response.

Upon his arrival back at his own groups location, Hans found the weapons inspection in progress. His soldiers stood lined in a small flat area, making up two groups of about 100 with 5 lines each, and every line possessing around 20 men. Wille stood at the head of the two groups, observing the proceedings and coordinating, whilst Hans' ten bodyguards carried out the inspecting itself.

Wille turned towards Hans, and stepped aside. ''Sir Bieri, your men stand ready.'' Wille said aloud to the group, waving his arm over the groups of gathered soldiers. He leaned in closer towards Hans and lowered his voice. ''They've been doing a fairly good job of keeping their equipment together, so I don't think we need to worry about that. However, as for the other matter...'' Wille uttered quietly, keeping it to Hans, and with his final words, he rubbed his hand over the cross sewn in his clothing a few times as if brushing off dust. ''...this little inspection has yet to reveal any truths in that regard. Might you have a suggestion, now that you are here?''

[All hail!]

"The man who catches that [&@%!] can do what he wants with her!" Shouted Robert, trying to galvanize his men to run faster.

[Derp53]

Hans looked over the men, and then looked back to Wille "Maybe I should remind them where their loyalty should lie, I trust them, but then again has a rousing speech ever hurt?" Looking back to men looking over the men going over their equipment, Hans rubbed his chin and looked Wille in the eyes again with a determined expression "I'll bring the men to attention and speak to them personally, for our unit to work cohesively we must be loyal to each other before anything else on the battlefield. Thank you Wille for getting the men together." Nodding to Wille and his bodyguards, Hans stepped forward to face his men as his bodyguards looked to see him step forward "Men of House Bieri! Before we march on, we must speak truly about our situation and our conduct going forward into this operation! When our equipment is ready stand at attention!"

Hans turned around to Wille again as his men began to pick the pace of the inspection, however he picked up a faint clamoring sound in the distance that seemed to grow closer "Wille, you hear that? Sounds like soldier's running in chainmail."

Spoiler:

I don't know if it's ok to set this up, but I really want to meet another non NPC character.

[philfredobob]

Hidden:

It's a bit of a stretch, but I'll allow it. The event was actually supposed to lead into character interaction, but my way would have been a whole lot more convoluted so this makes it a lot easier. Let me write a small correction.

Robert
The words seemed to have a strong effect; the soldiers even began to throw off some of their armour as they ran, just to be able catch up to the girl. However, Robert's lack of armour at this time allowed him to overtake his own men, now the closest to the girl.

The woman herself kept up a quick pace; in fact even picking up speed. The soldiers weight gave her an advantage over them, but not Robert. The chase had led Robert and the girl to the edge of Raymond's camp, heading south into a gully into a wider area. Above this area was a relatively low plateau at the edge of the camp, and on this plateau stood a large group of soldiers, who now stood observing the spectacle unfolding below them.

Robert finally managed to catch up to the young girl, and having gripped onto her, she let loose a terrified scream, and broke down into a deeper state of despair. All the while, she sat reciting words. ''Ashhad an la Illah'a Il'la Allah, wa an'na Muhammad'an rasool Allah!'' She tearfully repeated to herself in a high pitched squealing, almost drowned out by her desperate wailing.

Hans
The gathered men looked to one another with confusion, all no doubt wondering what exactly was going on. ''Sir Bieri!'' one of Hans' bodyguards yelled to him. ''Over here!.... what is this?'' He continued, saying the later phrase under his breath in a state of disgust.

Wille and a number of others rushed over to the edge, and below, Hans and his men saw a large, muscular man brutally manhandling a clearly terrified local woman. Hans' soldiers muttered and talked amongst themselves, whilst Wille looked over at Hans', his emotion not totally clear and his voice silent, but his bewilderment needing no words.

[Derp53]

Hans looked over the men forcing their way with woman and looked over to Wille, then looked back over to his men catching their attention "Grab your pikes and stay ready men! I'm not going to let people be raped and murdered while we can do something about it!" He gestured to Wille to grab his spear and hurried down to the scene below halberd in hand, assessing the situation and the large man imposing his will on the woman with visible disgust he briskly pushed past an onlooker and confronted the large man "What the hell are you doing and why is there a woman in a military camp being manhandled?!" Hans looked over to the disheveled woman and then lowered his haldberd's spear point to the large man's throat as Wille the two more of Hans personal bodyguard arrived behind him spears at the ready "Answer me barbarian, or I will not hesitate to run my halberd through your neck!"

[philfredobob]

Robert & Hans
Seconds after Hans spoke, the three soldiers who had been running with Robert appeared from the gulley. Upon spotting the scuffle, they pulled their swords and stood at the ready, prepared to back up Robert, just in case.

Hidden:

By the way, All Hail, this your cue. I've seen you popping in and out and I don't know if you're waiting for me or something, but you can post if you want.

[All hail!]

"This [&@%!] attacked me, I'm only giving her what she deserves." Robert replied. "If you try and run me through, I'll take your fancy little spear and shove it up your arse."

[Derp53]

Hans shook his head with disdain and nudged the spearhead of his halberd against the skin of Robert's throat "And pray tell me how this '[&@%!]' ended up in a military camp, because you aren't in a position to be threatening me." throwing a glance back at the woman suspended in Robert's hands, Hans then tightened his grip on his halberd and gestured to the terrified woman "First off though, let the woman go, we can talk like civilized beings if the notion enthuses you."

[All hail!]

"Well it's obvious how she got here, isn't it? Men needs a bit of comfort sometimes..heh." Robert said, dimly. He gripped the woman tightly, intent on bruising, and then released her.

[Derp53]

Han's gestured to one of his bodyguards to pull the woman to safety and slowly lowered the halberd from Robert's throat utilizing the length of his weapon to keep out of reach of Robert's hands. Finally he pulled the halberd up and clear of Robert's throat and gestured to the bodyguard currently holding onto the frightened woman "Take this woman to our encampment and get her some clothes and food, she must be exhausted after her ordeal." Then turning back to Robert, he continued to stay out of arm's reach and instead continued to conversation "I'm glad we could work that out, I am Hans of House Bieri hailing from the northern cantons of the alps, who are you?"

[philfredobob]

Hidden:

Hold on a bit there Derp. I should have posted this sooner anyways. Some of these actions have been a bit godmod-y. It's my fault for not saying anything, so I apologise.

The Confrontation
Immediately after being released by Robert, the woman began to back away in a panic. As Hans' soldier approached her, she jumped back and threw number of words at Hans', Robert, and their men in her own tongue; no doubt profanities. She then twisted on her heels, burst into a sprint, and made for the hills.

Hans' man took a few steps behind the woman. ''Woman, stop!'' He shouted behind her, moving only a short distance before he stopped, and looked back at Hans' for an order. Robert's soldiers stood still, looking repeatedly between Robert and the escaped woman, before they eventually decided to sheath their blades and leave the girl to her fate, one of them cursing under his breath at the missed opportunity.

[Derp53]

Spoiler:

I apologize for that phil, I had a feeling I was overstepping a boundary, thanks for confirming it.

"Let her go, there's no point in wearing ourselves chasing her through the desert my good man." Hans looked back at Robert, aware of any sudden movements and awaiting his response to Hans' query.