What’s Going On In Prince Valiant? Who is this Flamberge that’s been captured? January – March 2024

“Flamberge”, held captive by a tribe of cave dwellers in the current Prince Valiant story, is Prince Valiant’s named sword, the one that until this story I thought was just called the Singing Sword. But it’s a real class of cool-looking swords, based on named swords that appeared in various romances and epics and such.

With this, I hope to bring you up to late March 2024 in Mark Schultz and Thomas Yeates’s Prince Valiant. As ever, if you’re reading these scrolls in the future — say, after June 2024 — there’s probably a more up-to-date plot recap at this link. Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the first of my What’s Going On In … posts to cover entirely material revealed to us this calendar year.

Prince Valiant.

7 January – 24 March 2024.

Valiant, his son Arn, and their party were ashore, in a deserted fishing village, with Valiant’s Singing Sword getting all vibrate-y. Valiant follows a stag’s lead to a strange cave, where he finds his perception checks failing and a flock of small, shadowy creatures who grab the Singing Sword. Bronwyn says it’s the snake people. In any case, the shadowy figures leave a message on a rock. It says they have Flamberge and orders Valiant’s team to come to the high point tonight.

Baedwulf believes they’ve got a case of Tuatha here, creatures driven underworld by the Gaels at the dawn of time, and still seeking revenge. The Tuatha, though, say they were living peacefully until the humans violated their world. A mad Saxon attacked them, killing many Tuatha, and stealing their sacred Black Stone. So Valiant can see their side of things. Also Witgar rounded up the population of the fishing village and drowned them all. They claim the thief and war criminal was Witgar, a name Valiant recognizes but I don’t seem to have in my notes. Fortunately Witgar turns up soon enough; he’s the chief at Dyfflin, where they’d been heading before this abandoned village and all.

Mark Schulz and Thomas Yeates’s Prince Valiant for the 18th of February, 2024. Between stealing the sacred Black Stone, and drowning a whole village, and I infer being responsible for sending just enough soldiers to Gwynedd to not lose a war but not enough to win it, I’m getting the vibe this Witgar is not a good person.

Witgar is all weird and paranoid about seeing Baedwulf again. The peace in Gwynedd that they’ve negotiated thanks to Valiant and Arn sounds to Witgar like enemies gathering against him. Also, maybe they heard about the drowned village or something. Our Heroes, plus Badwulf’s fiancee Bronwyn, are treated to quite nice apartments as long as they don’t leave or anything so you know what’s up. But they notice the cat who’d stowed away on their boat is able to sneak through the walls. Turns out there’s passageways hidden behind the tapestries.

Valiant and Baedwulf follow the cat, and a tunnel, and find Witgar doing some weird mumbling incantation stuff with the Black Stone. Witgar notices them, and flees with the stone, sending a party of 1d4+2 guards after Our Heroes. Then Witgar goes to the women’s apartment, declaring that Bronwyn is going to marry him instead, on the grounds that Baedwulf and Valiant et al are traitors and going to be executed. Right after the ceremony. And that’s where we are now.

Next Week!

But enough of tales of old-timey folks and their old-fashioned ways. It’s on to Jim Scancarelli’s Gasoline Alley next week — if it still is Gasoline Alley by then! Confused? I’ll explain soon.