House of the Crow
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: House of the Crow
Author:
Centuries ago, a Noble Lord had arranged a marriage for his son to a young Lady in a faraway realm. The Noble sent his Elite House Guard, lead by the renowned Sir Verik Martingo, to escort the young lady back to his realm for the ceremony.
The trip was uneventful until the column was a day's ride from returning home. As the House Guard crested Cragan's Hill, they found an enemy army camped in the vale below. Acting swiftly, Sir Martingo sent his most skilled Ranger b ack the way they came with the young lady. Before the enemy had time to react, Sir Martingo and his men charged into the encampment. They were outnumbered by the hundreds, but they attacked with such ferocity and skill, that the surprised enemy army could barely defend itself.
In the end, the House Guard was killed and the army that trapped them had been cut down by more than half its original number. In the confusion, the brave Ranger was able to double back and sneak the Lady through the neighborings forest, and the enemy lines, to the safety of his Nobleman's Stronghold. With the bride-to-be safe, the Noble lead a great force of his militia to Cragan's Hill to meet his invading foe. When they arrived, the weakened enemy had already retreated home, and all that remained were the scores of dead warriors. The battlefield was littered with crows picking at the corpses, except at the very center of the carnage.
There, miraculously standing tall over his fallen men was Sir Martingo himself. As the militia hurried to his side they saw with horror the brave Knight was no longer living. Eerily, his battered and bloody body stood guard over his compatriots, propped upon the end of a long, barbed spear. The effect was chilling, not just to the soldiers, but to the crows and carnivores that littered the battlefield.
Not one of the men who lay below Sir Martingo had been approached by the birds. The Noble Lord was brought to tears by this display of courage and sacrifice, and he subsequently created a new Great House in his realm in honor of Sir Martingo, the House of the Crow.