Three weeks.
Three weeks since the siege ended and they still weren't home.
Jade sat on a supply wagon watching the countryside roll past, the Company of the Golden Boar had taken a different route back to Pravend, something about checking on contract opportunities in other villages and avoiding known bandit territories
Which meant what should've been a three-day journey had turned into three weeks of wandering across Vlandia with a mercenary company that treated travel like a paid vacation.
Not that Jade was complaining much, the slower pace had given him time to recover, both physically and mentally.
His health was at full now, 120/120, had been for over a week, the game mechanics in his body had completely healed everything
The nightmares were getting better too, still came but less frequently, maybe three times a week instead of every night, and when he woke up screaming it took less time to remember where he was
The others were similar, Numerius had stopped looking haunted all the time, Yuzon's thousand-yard stare had faded to just normal tiredness, Mataranas's arm had healed enough that he could use his shield again though the healer said it should've taken months
Nathaniel's face was still a bit crooked from the broken nose but he could talk normally again and both eyes worked, the bruises had faded from purple to yellow to gone.
They were recovering faster than normal people should, the mercenaries had noticed but chalked it up to youth and good fortune
Torvald knew better, kept watching them with that calculating look, but he hadn't said anything.
Jade leaned back against the wagon and stared at the sky, trying to figure out what bothered him about this whole situation
They were in Calradia, clearly, everything matched the game, the factions, the geography, even the UI and stats
But when exactly were they?
He needed to know what year it was.
A mercenary walked past carrying a waterskin, young guy maybe twenty-five, Jade had talked to him a few times during the journey
"Hey," Jade called out, "can I ask you something?"
The mercenary stopped, "sure, what?"
"What year is it?"
The mercenary looked at him funny, like Jade had just asked if water was wet, "you hit your head during the siege or something?"
"Just humor me"
"It's 1084," the mercenary said slowly, "has been for like eight months now, you really don't know?"
"I know," Jade lied, "just checking, thanks"
The mercenary walked off shaking his head, probably thinking Jade was touched in the head.
1084.
Jade looked over at the others who were sitting nearby, caught their attention and gestured for them to come closer
They gathered around the wagon, Numerius climbing up to sit beside him, Yuzon and Mataranas standing nearby, Nathaniel was on another wagon but close enough to hear
"What's up?" Numerius asked
"Just asked a mercenary what year it is," Jade said quietly, "1084"
Yuzon's eyes widened slightly, "every campaign in Bannerlord starts at 1084"
"Exactly," Jade said, "which means we're right at the beginning of the timeline, the canonical start point"
"The Empire collapsed back in 1077 though," Yuzon said, remembering the lore, "Emperor Arenicos died and they lost the Battle of Pendraic, that was seven years ago, the civil war's been going since then"
"So we're seven years after the collapse," Jade said, working through it, "the three Imperial factions have been fighting each other all that time, Vlandia and the other kingdoms have been grabbing territory, everything's been chaotic for years"
"And now in 1084, this is when the game starts," Numerius said, "so we're at the point where things are about to get even worse"
"If it follows the game timeline," Mataranas added
"Big if," Nathaniel said
Jade thought about it, the year 1084 was significant in Bannerlord because it was the starting point, the moment when everything was balanced on a knife's edge, kingdoms poised for war, the Empire fragments still fighting, bandits and raiders everywhere
It was the perfect moment for chaos, for ambitious people to rise or fall.
"If this is 1084," Yuzon said slowly, "if we're at the exact start of the game timeline, do you think the protagonists exist?"
Everyone looked at him.
"What protagonists?" Numerius asked
"The player characters from the game," Yuzon clarified, "in the base game you start as someone whose family was destroyed by raiders, siblings captured, you're trying to rebuild your clan and rescue them"
"And in the War Sails DLC," Jade added, remembering the expansion, "you start as a warrior whose sister was captured during the Nordic naval invasions, the whole storyline revolves around building fleets and fighting at sea"
"Right," Yuzon said, "so if we're in Calradia at the actual start of the timeline, exactly when the game begins, do those people exist somewhere? Are they going through their origin stories right now?"
Silence fell over the group as they processed that.
"Maybe," Jade said finally, "or maybe not, we could be in a version of Calradia that doesn't have main protagonists, just the world itself running on its own"
"Or maybe we're the protagonists," Numerius suggested, "we got pulled here, we have the UI and stats, maybe we're supposed to do what the game protagonist does"
"Which protagonist though?" Nathaniel asked, "base game or War Sails? Those are completely different stories, base game is land-focused, rescuing siblings and rebuilding a clan to eventually rule Calradia, War Sails is naval warfare and the Nordic invasion, rescuing a sister and becoming a maritime power"
"We're landlocked," Mataranas pointed out, "Pravend is nowhere near the coast, and we don't have captured siblings that we know of, so neither origin story really fits us"
True, their circumstances didn't match either protagonist's starting situation, they hadn't had their families destroyed by raiders, didn't have siblings to rescue, hadn't been caught up in a Nordic naval invasion.
"Maybe there are no protagonists," Jade said, "maybe this is just Calradia in 1084 and we're random people trying to survive, no grand destiny, no main quest, just the world existing"
"That's depressing," Numerius said
"That's realistic," Yuzon countered, "we're not special, we just have game mechanics in a real world, doesn't mean we're destined for greatness or have some predetermined story"
"We survived a three-day siege that should've killed us," Nathaniel pointed out, "that's somewhat special"
"Or lucky," Jade said, "really, really lucky with accelerated healing"
The wagon hit a bump and they all grabbed onto whatever was nearby to steady themselves.
"So what do we do?" Numerius asked after a moment, "if we don't know if there are protagonists running around, if we don't know what role we're supposed to play, what's the plan?"
"Survive," Jade said simply, "get home to Pravend, figure out what to do next, maybe join the Golden Boar permanently if they'll have us, or find other work, or eventually start our own warband"
"Ambitious," Yuzon said dryly
"We've got stats and perks that are literally designed for commanding troops," Jade said, "might as well use them eventually"
"First we need troops to command," Mataranas said
"And better equipment," Nathaniel added, "and horses, and training, and actually knowing what we're doing beyond 'don't die'"
"Details," Jade said, but he was smiling slightly
It felt good to have a goal, even a vague one, better than just wandering and waiting for something to happen to them.
The wagon train continued moving, mercenaries chatting and laughing around them, the sun warm on Jade's face despite the lingering spring cold
Three weeks since the siege and he was finally starting to feel like a person again instead of just a traumatized survivor
The nightmares would probably never fully go away, he'd killed people, watched people die, experienced horrors that would stick with him forever
But he was learning to live with it, like Torvald said, you either learn to live with the memories or they consume you, keep moving forward or drown.
"You know what's weird?" Numerius said after a while, "we've been here for like a month total and I barely think about home anymore, like our actual home in 2035"
"Same," Yuzon admitted, "like that life feels distant, almost unreal, like it happened to someone else"
"Because this is more real," Jade said quietly, "pain, fear, exhaustion, survival, watching people die, killing to stay alive, that's all visceral in a way our old lives never were, we were comfortable, safe, bored, here every day could be our last"
"Deep," Nathaniel said, "but yeah, I get it, hard to care about homework and part-time jobs when you've been through an actual medieval siege"
They fell into comfortable silence, watching the Vlandian countryside pass by, rolling hills and scattered farms, villages in the distance with smoke rising from cooking fires
Somewhere out there in this world of 1084 Calradia, kingdoms were preparing for war, the fractured Empire was still fighting its three-way civil war, raiders and bandits roamed freely, great lords plotted and schemed for power
And maybe, just maybe, there were other protagonists starting their journeys somewhere, young warriors with captured siblings and destroyed families, rising from nothing to become legends
Or maybe it was just them, five guys from 2035 trapped in a medieval warfare simulator, trying to figure out how to survive day by day.
Either way, they'd find out eventually.
The wagon train rolled on toward Pravend.
[END OF ARC 1]