As soon as day broke the next morning, we left the inn. Moving on, the other local knights and thugs knew not to mess with us. We continued on without much of a threat to our stuff. It was a week later when we got to see a big bandit clan in the road. I decided to move ahead with Petras. The leader said "Hey. You guys look like you could use a short break. We have a toll here and you can spend some time paying." I smirked and said "Do you know who we are?" He looked at us and picked his ear. "You look like some rich marks to me. No pay up." he said nonchalantly. "My name is Sir Collin Rhombus. My companion here is Sir Petras Brownflank. People call ourselves many things. Blood knights, Cutpurse Cutters, The Butchers of Hereford. You get the point." I said. The man was pale and trembling. Petras and I shared a smirk I then turned to the thief. "Don't worry. Go tell your boys. See what they want to do. You line the road and salute us like cheerful welcomers and you get to live." He ran off and within 5 minutes, they were at attention on either side of the road. We went through.
Being well known had some downsides as well. When we got to the city before the capitol, we were denied entry. It was the third settlement we were barred from. We all had to beg them during negotiations for a map and find a castle to go to. It was a few days of a detour. We still had lots of money though. When we got to the castle, it was owned by a general of the royal army. We asked him for shelter for a few days. Surprisingly, he granted it to us. I was surprised that he had not heard of us. "I don't pay attention to every provincial lord or jousting circuit knight." Apparently, he was busy at court. I looked at Fabien and Anthony pointedly. It took them a second, but they got it and sprung to action. "Is everything in the realm alright!?" a nervous Anthony asked. The general huffed out loud and said "It's as stable as it can be for now. It doesn't mean that people are not trying to tip the balance on our heads." "With war or intrigue?" I asked. He turned to me. "Some with one. Others with the other." It was now Fabien's turn. "We have been breaking up bandit bands all on our journey."
Incidentally, that caught his interest. "We have been really lax on them lately. The king is not a fighter." he said. That was interesting. He continued, saying "His childhood illness left him pretty weak, although he does like watch and reward those who can." Really good information to learn. We then began to tell him about the bandits we fought. Obviously, we needed to clean up the story to make us look better. It seemed that he actually approved the graphic violence. "Those whelps only do that because the provincial lords are too weak. If it were me, I'd show them that the price of banditry was death." he said. I nodded and added "Well, we began to think the same thing as we went along. In the next encounter..." Then we started giving him the gory details. Not only did it actually double the number of encounters, but it also satisfied his hunger for gore. He laughed and said "You lot are pretty good fighters then, huh? You know, there is a tournament in the capitol that is coming up. I won't be there. You might do well with actual combat experience unlike these young runts these days."
Catching the eye of the king would be great. Even if we did not win, we needed to find a way to do something that would get us closer to the inner circle of the king. That way we could petition him. I saw a chance to get into the capitol, so I took it. "That would be nice, but as a group of minor nobles and knights, we would need a letter of introduction if we wanted to seriously enter." He waved a hand and said "Say no more. Country bumpkins will be Iooked down on. I would know, coming from the coast. I will write a letter of introduction to the arena master in the morning." We all thanked him. He told us to think nothing of it. I made sure that he included Petras and Jeran on the letter. After training with the men for a couple days, we left on good terms. We then took a week to reach the capitol. They wanted to bar us from the city, but we had a signed letter from a general with his seal attached. They simply had to let us in. We were under strict watch by the city guards, but that was fine. The letter was for the arena master so that was where we had to go first. We entered the tournament.
