A man called Frizarian, who describes himself as a healer, hires Wilfred and a dwarf called Ranulf as bodyguards for himself and his ward, a young lady who he says is sick. They agree to escort them to his dwelling place in the badlands north of Sequarl and south of the West Otanga river. The party are travelling by sledge. There is a third bodyguard, a non-descript fellow who appears to be a groom.
They reach their destination, a tower behind a broken down curtain wall. As they do so they realise that they are being pursued by a large fellow on a warhorse. Wilf and Ranulf, and the groom take up position by the gate while Frizarian carries his ward into the tower.
The man on the warhorse proves to be Conrad Fitzhugh. His sister Cersi has been kidnapped by an evil magician: he is here to free her. Wilf and Ranulf realise they have been gulled. When they return to the tower they find it locked against them. They agree to make amends for their complicity in his sister’s abduction by helping Conrad rescue her.
Inside, Frizarian and his servitor Mongo make preparations to defend the tower. Mongo has a heavy crossbow which he is quite good with. Frizarian has a supply of alchemicals including vitriol to throw down on them as well as a number of useful spells. He also has a small pack of dogs.
The first attack is a rush at the tower and is easily repulsed. Wilf, Ranulf and Conrad are all wounded. The second attack makes use of a scratch built mantlet. It still ends in defeat for the attackers and more woundings. However, the “groom” produces a longbow and makes an incredible shot to deal Mongo a critical wound as he shoots his crossbow out of an arrow loop. The “groom” reveals herself as Lorandil, the elven rogue/magician.
For their next attack Lorandil flies Ranulf up to the roof of the tower. Frizarian has left his dogs up there so they raise the alarm. Ranulf kills some of the dogs and Lorandil puts others to sleep with magic. Frizarian manages to put Ranulf down with his own sleep spell but Lorandil is immune to this sort of magic. She opens the door to let Wilfred and Conrad in and it is all over for Frizarian who is rendered unconscious by a blow. Cersei, though heavily drugged is rescued unharmed. Conrad is keen to bring Frizarian to justice, rather than slay him out of hand. He is tied up and guarded.
That night, while everyone else rests to recover from their wounds, Wilfred is on guard. Frizarian awakes and by his arts frees himself from his bonds. He casts a sleep spell on Wilf, gathers up most of his posessions and creeps into the night. He goes to the stables, takes a horse; frees and chases off all the other horses; disappears into the night, never to be seen again. Wilf awakes to find a dagger embedded in the headboard of his bed.
D-1
OE Date: October 685
Characters: Ranulf, Wilf, Lorandil NPCs: Frizarian, Mongo, Conrad Fitzhugh, Cersei Fitzhugh
Real World: When – 1989; Where – Totton
Unusually the part of Frizarian was taken by a player, which may no doubt contributed to the sheer tenacity of the defence and the subsequent escape.