Godwyn Sets Out

Date: Autumn 1190

Characters

• Godwyn
• Thomas the Poacher

Synopsis

Godwyn experienced his first days of freedom and started his journey as a wizard.

Godwyn decided to go to visit Stonehenge. His cover story, when people met him on the road, was that he was on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Since both Stonehenge (Salisbury) and Canterbury are south of Yorkshire, Godwyn had the idea they were near each other. They're not.

Along the way, Godwyn got it into his head that he really did want to see Canterbury -- Lincoln Cathedral made a great impression on him and, naturally, Canterbury Cathedral must be even more magnificent. Imagine his disappointment when he arrived at Salisbury and found that Canterbury Cathedral was nowhere in sight.

At one of the towns along his route, maybe in Lincoln, Godwyn heard a crier announcing a hefty bounty for live wolf cubs. Being part wolf himself, he was displeased to hear it. He went searching the forest and, after dark, came across a trio of hunters who had caught a she-wolf and her cub in a pit trap. Godwyn assumed his wolf shape and cast Beast of Outlandish Size on himself. The hunters were easy to scare off but their dog had a bit more spirit: it required The Viper's Gaze to really terrify it. Godwyn scared the hunters so badly they are looking for a career change, then rescued the she-wolf and cub.

Once again on the road, Godwyn responded to some cries for help and found Thomas the Poacher stuck in a tree. Though it was not obvious at the time, Thomas was stuck in the invisible web of a faerie spider. Godwyn was cautious: he didn't climb the tree to investigate, but instead cut down a sapling and probed with the pole. He thereby avoided getting caught in the web himself, but was unable to reach Thomas. Eventually he freed Thomas by casting a spontaneous spell (with some difficulty) to shake him loose. When Thomas asked Godwyn what he'd been saying in Latin, Godwyn replied that it had been a sort of prayer. The two joined together to travel south. Over the course of the journey, Godwyn gradually revealed a little more about his magic. For example, he admitted after casting some more spells that he had once been apprenticed to a wizard (which, of course, is true -- but misleading).

In Worchester, Godwyn found John the Redcap and made friends. He got some information about magical sites in southern England.

Thomas and Godwyn lived off the land for a season, poaching stoat and ermine for a big payoff in Coventry.

Eventually Godwyn found an unoccupied cave in a modest Magical aura, so he and Thomas moved in. By this time Godwyn had hired Thomas as a servant, paying him with money he'd received from his pater.

There was run-in with a rival poacher who demanded payment or else he threatened to report Thomas to the sheriff. Thomas and Godwyn responded by setting an ambush for the man. Godwyn assumed wolf shape, again using Beast of Outlandish Size, and hid. Thomas confronted the man and at the first sign of belligerence, whistled for Godwyn. Godwyn burst from hiding and chased the rival poacher up a tree. Thomas extracted sincere promises that the other poacher would leave and never return before he called off "his" wolf.