Muck & Majesty

A Peasant’s Reckoning

By: Dustin Gross

Narrated by: Shane Leketa

A Brutal Tale of Rebellion, Blood, and the Filth of Medieval Life

Mudwater is not a village of heroes. It’s a wretched stain on the map, a place where men toil, starve, and die beneath the weight of feudal cruelty. The taxman takes what little they have, the Baron bleeds them dry, and the gods—if they even exist—have long since turned their backs.

Jacques the Lame knows this better than anyone. A crippled former soldier, he has spent his years rotting in the filth, hunting rats for copper and drinking away the memories of wars fought for lords who never knew his name. Survival is the only game in town, and he plays it well enough—until the Baron’s greed pushes Mudwater too far.

When the tax collectors return to take what no one has left, the villagers have a choice: kneel and die slowly… or stand and die fighting.

Outnumbered, outmatched, and armed with nothing but rusted blades and farming tools, Jacques and his band of desperate misfits—a vengeful widow, a foul-mouthed nun, a broken priest, and a giant who should have been a king—do the unthinkable: they steal from the Baron himself.

But one act of defiance is never enough. As whispers of rebellion spread and the Duke’s army marches to crush them, Mudwater faces a final reckoning.

This isn’t a fairy tale. There is no destiny, no prophecy—just blood, fire, and the question that has haunted peasants for centuries:

What happens when the scum of the earth decide they’ve had enough?

©2025 Dustin Gross (P)2025 Dustin Gross