To keep track of the various interviews and guest blogs connected to the Sword Defiant‘s launch, I’m running a Blog Quest. It’s like a blog tour, only across the map of the lands of Summerswell and the north. The route of the blog retraces the steps taken by the Nine heroes in their quest against Lord Bone, some twenty years ago.
1. Civilian Reader – Annotated Chapter 2. Peir, the only the son of Lord Bessimer of the Crownland, was troubled by a recurring dream of a terrible shadow. He travelled to the holy city of Arshoth, but the priests there could not interpret these portents. He met with an acolyte, Jan the Pious, who told him of a changeling child said to be blessed with the gift of prophecy. Jan and Peir set out to find this changeling…
2. Queen’s Book Asylum – Myths of Elves and Heroes (guest blog) Peir and Jan travel to Albury Cross and search for the changeling. The locals are hunting for the boy too – the Church of the Intercessors decries the earthpower as spiritually perilous, and have driven the changeling into the woods. A mob corners the boy, and Peir steps forward to defend him. Peir’s example inspires a passing mercenary to take a stand too, and together the two men save the Changeling. The mercenary Alf and his dwarven friend Gundan join the company – as does the young changeling boy Lath, later called the Beast.
3. Hobbit Hole Books – Gareth Hanrahan interview (video). Meanwhile, Laerlyn – Princess of the Everwood and youngest daughter of the Elf-king – visits the lands of Summerswell. As is the custom, she is afforded the opportunity to pardon a condemned criminal. She chooses a young thief named Berys. Soon afterwards, Laerlyn vanishes from the royal apartments in the Crownland and takes to the Road on an adventure.
4. J. R. Carrel – Gareth Hanrahan interview (video). The two groups meet on the Road. Between Peir’s accounts of his dreams and Lath’s visions, Laerlyn suspects some dark force threatens the lands of Summerswell. Berys suggests they consult with a wizard of her acquaintance, Blaise.
Blaise turns out to be a failed wizard, rejected from the College of Wizardry. Still, he’s able to identify one of the places in Peir’s dream as the Valley of the Illuminated One, in the distant High Moor.
5. The Rookery – Gareth Hanrahan interview (video). In Ellscoast, the company encounter Wilder raiders from the north. The barbarian tribes are said to worship cruel gods, and sometimes raid the coast and take prisoners. However, one of the raiders abandons his comrades and asks to parlay with the company. He introduces himself as Thurn, and says that he has rejected the gods of his people and now seeks allies in his fight against them.
6. Fantasy Hive – Making Monsters. In the High Moor, the Nine encounter a host of horrors, led by the dark gods of Thurn’s people. Laerlyn identifies them as Witch Elves, a sundered branch of the elven people. The company battle these monsters, but are forced to flee when the Wraith-Knight Acraist takes to the field, wielding the sword Spellbreaker.
Gareth Hanrahan 