A memorial to Goribald, the last Champion of Thring (18.17), has been erected in a rare dry patch in this swamp.
It is kept by his squire Jocelyn, a Gorean girl adopted by a Thringish family. She dived into the water after Sir Goribald but was distracted by a sailbeast.
Jocelyn’s plan is to find out where the crocodile has passed Goribald’s sword and armour and take them. Before an attempt to capture the crocodile is made, she will claim to have slain the beast and qualify as Thring’s new champion. She will then fight at the Tourney, lose, and pass the title on to one more deserving and less reptilian than the current champion.
Of course, jousts are dangerous and she knows that her bid to save Thring’s honour may cost her her life.
In her darker moments, it has occurred to Jocelyn that the crocodile’s midden may also contain Goribald’s bones - and the Skinsack Shed (16.18) is nearby. An alternative plan would be to resurrect the knight as a sack child and have him joust in the Tourney as Thring’s rightful and returned champion.
Hooks
- Would reviving Sir Goribald be enough to reinstate him as the champion? Or would Thring suddenly have two champions?
- Doesn’t the creation of a sack child require the subject to have been killed by black magic? How would Jocelyn get around that?
- Sack children emerge as - well - children. How could a child fight in the Tourney?
