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Archon's Curse [Pathfinder Kingmaker]
- Thread starter Imperator Pax
- Start date
Desnus 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2019
- Messages
- 5,906
- Likes received
- 78,895
Desnus 4712
While by no means uniform or flat, the rolling expanses of grasslands that comprised the Kamelands had much wider sight lines than the heavily wooded and varying elevations of the narlmarches, which comprised the western reaches of his domain. With the Tors of Levenies to the east one might have thought the Kamelands would have been drier as a result of the rain shadow but the grasslands were well watered by alpine rivers rlowing down until they joined other bodies of water eventually running into the broader sellen river network that shaped eastern Avistan.
Even for the pair of falls that cut them from directly accessing Restov by direct riverine route, Eire suspected that this route and the broader river network was to be ultimately the shaping feature of the realm. The rivers flowed down from high places, and drained into lakes, and marshes, and worked their way for the most part south.
It was the river and the stones that formed by and large the boundaries of the baronies Jamandi had sent explorations to establish. In the far west the nearest thing that could be said to be Numeria's border was the Sellen River. The idea had been to have the mercenaries who had disappeared form a barony across the glenbon upplands... and it was probable that the Iron Wraiths had simply run afoul of some kellid tribe of nominal numerians who considered them to be in Numeria rather than the 'stolen lands'. The Hook Tongue Slough was fed in the west by the silt strand river flowing down from high hills in the easternmost fragment of the glenebon range, and its eastern extent was well a question mark in a sense because the charter called it where the slough began in the east... and of course his own domain ended in the west with an unclear delineation based off of the Tors of Levenies that referenced various river courses... and Maegar Varn was given leave to settle 'the whole of the Dunsward', for the sake of civilizing influence of course.
Thus in a literal reading if Maegar had wanted to he theoretically, at least from the Brevic recognition of his borders, across nearly three hundred miles of eastward expanse until the Castrovin sea stopped him. Thus technically the Varnhold could be considered the largest of the three in geographical claim. Eire knew that Maegar had distributed landholdings across the mercenaries of his company who had wanted to settle down and those who had wanted to continue the adventurous life of a sell sword had been promised a warm place to retire to if they wished to come in the future. It seemed doubtful that Maegar intended to act on such generous recognition as was in the writing of the charter.
The boat jarred as it beached on the river shore and they could look north east to the great expanse of the lake Silverstep wasn't as large as Lake Hooktongue but it was more massive than the Tuskwater, and by no small margin. While there were certainly rivers that flowed down from the mountains in the distance Eire would have been hard pressed not to agree the lake didn't seem natural.
Was it a dragon's footprint?
He was skeptical, but it certainly had the rough appearance of one. While the tuskwater was deep and clear, Silverstep seemed impossibly clean and clear. It was almost impossibly manicured... Eire assumed that to be the work of the native fae tending the land to explain the lilies, reeds and other lake flora that abounded in picturesque beauty.
... and there was no shortage of fae ranging from the expected faerie dragons, and grigs, to brownies and nixies all waiting for Eranex's return... and abruptly they were surrounded filled with a flurry of chatter in languages that ranged from slyvan, and draconic to the elemental languages of Earth, and Water. Most important among that chatter was the news of political disagreements within the bog dwellers in the north of the lake.
Silverstep, the dragon who had sired Eranex, had constructed his lair in the natural caverns that were part of the Tors of Levenies and had partially submerged sections throughout. It was sufficiently a large enough cave complex that it sustained populations of fae, as well as now unfortunately the followers of the missing Eldest Ranalc who were also seeing to find Vesper's Rapier.
"Is that going to be an opportunity?" Jaethal questioned.
Eranex was mistrustful of the undead, but had thus far tolerated her and in turn Jaethal had largely seen fit to avoid most of the acerbic prodding she subjected paladin esque doo gooders to. That was likely in snow small part because unlike Shaoyu's mother Jaethal faced a much more even fight against the chaotic good dragon in a one verus one encounter. That wasn't to say Jaethal would necessary lose but given the situation they were putting aside their mutual distrust in the face of more pressing threats.
That didn't mean Eranex was necessarily happy allowing the, corrupted, bog nixies to be slaughtered by the fethling clerics undead... and she wasn't the only one.
--
Amiri surveyed the cavern around them. It was completely different than the den of the berserk owlbear its proximity to the portal to the other world meant that there were all varieties of colors put off by luminescent rocks, and plants growing, and it was warm and humid here. She suspected that the caves could have easily held the entire six bears following comfortably here, and then some given they'd only made their way through a fraction of the caves working their way towards the sound of fighting.
A fight that she was eager to throw herself into. The bog nixies weren't their friends and she'd been warned to be aware that they were just as likely to be hostile, but there were also ghasts, and mummies to hack apart as well.
"The connection to the first world has grown stronger." One of the faerie dragons remarked. It was true that all the adult faerie dragons were about the size of house cats, but the ones dwelling around the Silverstep were notably smaller than Perlivash, who must have weighed something like thirty pounds by this point. He was larger in length as well, and the only faerie dragon carrying a satchel, which held his spell book. "The sword will appear soon."
Amiri nodded reflexively acknowledging the comment. She didn't know anything more than folktales about the otherworld, but she'd been told about the magical sword. This place felt eerily similar to the strange hall they had found deep below the old scyamore, the sacred place of the kobold and mites who lived under the tremendous tree. It had always been said amongst the Mammoth Lords that the otherworld was accessed by places beneath the earth.
If the old scyamore's shrine had been a campfire being tended by the small ones... this was a real bonfire, that was still being stoked with dried heavy logs for it. They had divided into the two separate parties moving through the tunnels as the lights continued to pulsate throwing shadows across the floors and reflecting in the pools of water. There was a heavy crash in the other direction, and Linzi who had been sent with them squeaked at the sound. "Was that a cave in, do-"
"They'll be fine." Amiri snapped gripping the handle of her great sword tightly as she spied the first of the linen wrapped shambling undead. They would be fine. They would be fine. They would be fine. As if confirmation fire flashed across the ceiling through the hall and tongues of flame lapped into the chamber. The heat increased. She wiped the sweat from her brow, and waved her sword at the undead, "Kill them all." Then charging forward, "For Gorrum!" She bellowed drowning out Tristians attempt at a word in edgewise.
Rocks slid down the pathway from above as dragons roared. Ice, and flame. Sunbursts.
They had their own battle clearing the eighty odd feet to crash into the undead back end as the eccleuithurge finished his chanting waving the icon of his goddess, though Amiri could not see it, felt the sunlight blaze behind her illuminating the dozens of undead, and nixies that lay in front of her even as the earth shook.
The hideous stench did nothing to deter her from bringing the giant's sword down through the first ghast she reached. This was battle, and Amiri shined in battle. This cave network had been made livable for a great dragon to live in comfortably there was plenty of room for armies of men to fight in.
--
Jaethal would have grumbled that if they had waited a little longer than maybe their enemies would have been further along in their infighting. Would have been weaker. It was clear that they had entered into a fight already begun. The Ankou was clearly deranged... under the influence of some kind of hallucinogenic, or poison that had driven him into a more murderous frenzy than could really be put into words. The emaciating bat like skeleton creature had been slashing at the shae rogues. The fetchling Cleric she was now engaged with had been fighting the Rusalka that was now fighting the silver dragon.
Shaoyu stood over the broken body of one of the rogues. The young red dragon had shed her human form in a blast of purging flame, and killed the second rogue of the trio within the first minutes of the fight. Her tail flicked as she stepped forward to face the bloodied and last of the sisters fire flickering from her jaws.
Jaethal kept her scythe, the favored weapon of her goddess, loose. She wasn't especially worried about the cleric's rapier, so much as the agitated angry pulsing of the portal further behind the hostile cleric. That was what had broken up their clash as the cave continued to shake.
The beserk ankou charged towards the baron's floating figure. Even maddened to the point of insanity there was no question that that monster was the more adroit flyer. Malicious claws sliced out against the red eyed baron's side tearing a nasty wound.
This clash had begun as one of mythic proportions, and seemed intent of escalating to greater heights as the noise from the lower levels became running feet as the others moved to join them. Jaethal would have preferred they stayed away even as the clash in the air resulted in a tussle that ended with the large monster breaking away and flying higher still. They were a hundred feet in the air as it was, and the cavern ceiling was probably at least that above them.
The portal pulsed and them exploded in a flash of silver blue light.
The Ankou shrieked, and Jaethal took the opportunity to launch a bane filled strike against the cleric as her eyes tracked the emerging weapon of the first world. Vesper's rapier was an artifact of the fey wild realms more grown than forged or manufactured by mortal hands. Its blues and grey hues looked as if it had its blade made of pattern welded steel. Its hilt was wrapped in if Jaethal were willing to bet was the mixed hide of black and green dragons.
This was a fight at level that was at the edge of lesser creatures.
Long fingers closed around the hilt, safe in the ornate hand guard. The rapier's blade changed in a soft summer glow becoming wider, into a notable triangular shape in contrast to previous long and narrow taper. Skeletal hands flailed desperately for it as as the ankou attempted to reach for the blade, only for the blade to sweep upward and slash through both of the horned bat creature's wrists. Disarmed, and then with its mouth pinned literally shut by the magical sword the Ankou faced a a thundering death as it crashed into the cavern floor.
The end that, the grisly fate, befell Orsig reverberated through the cavern that felt as if they were under the noon day sun. It should have been the end of the fight, but just to be sure Jaethal made sure to remove the fethling cleric's head with a swift strike of her scythe even as Amiri, Tristian, the little dragons, and the rest moved to join them. Eranex, and Shaoyu had both finished their respective enemies as well.
... and the question was now what. Jaethal wasn't entirely sure that a second fight was going to erupt but the baron had the sword that the silver dragon had been sent to retrieve... and hence her wariness. Eire looked probably worse than he was. The fight with dread Orsig had shredded his wool coat, and vestments, and if Jaethal were being honest the long gouging cuts across his midsection had turned flame red looking like scales where blood leaked.
She stepped forward look at the baron's appearance as the world continued to shake.
Oh enough of the humans had made comparisons that the baron resembled of sorts Tristian, or the Abadar cleric Arsinoe, suggesting Asimar like appearance, but if she were honest, more akin to a regal elf... not quite.
The undead elf cut her musings short as the red eyed lord turned his head slightly to one side and started to speak, "I believe this is yours." He remarked offering the sword hilt first... to someone who certainly hadn't been there with them before.
--
Notes: I think we will mostly follow a similar update schedule as last week.
Next time, as I reiterate in the next segment concludes the spring of this year, but it also marks the introduction of the perks from some of the jumpchain content. It is mythic deeds like this which from out of universe standpoint are what earn 'additional cp' or at least thats one way of looking at it. Milestone rewards.
While by no means uniform or flat, the rolling expanses of grasslands that comprised the Kamelands had much wider sight lines than the heavily wooded and varying elevations of the narlmarches, which comprised the western reaches of his domain. With the Tors of Levenies to the east one might have thought the Kamelands would have been drier as a result of the rain shadow but the grasslands were well watered by alpine rivers rlowing down until they joined other bodies of water eventually running into the broader sellen river network that shaped eastern Avistan.
Even for the pair of falls that cut them from directly accessing Restov by direct riverine route, Eire suspected that this route and the broader river network was to be ultimately the shaping feature of the realm. The rivers flowed down from high places, and drained into lakes, and marshes, and worked their way for the most part south.
It was the river and the stones that formed by and large the boundaries of the baronies Jamandi had sent explorations to establish. In the far west the nearest thing that could be said to be Numeria's border was the Sellen River. The idea had been to have the mercenaries who had disappeared form a barony across the glenbon upplands... and it was probable that the Iron Wraiths had simply run afoul of some kellid tribe of nominal numerians who considered them to be in Numeria rather than the 'stolen lands'. The Hook Tongue Slough was fed in the west by the silt strand river flowing down from high hills in the easternmost fragment of the glenebon range, and its eastern extent was well a question mark in a sense because the charter called it where the slough began in the east... and of course his own domain ended in the west with an unclear delineation based off of the Tors of Levenies that referenced various river courses... and Maegar Varn was given leave to settle 'the whole of the Dunsward', for the sake of civilizing influence of course.
Thus in a literal reading if Maegar had wanted to he theoretically, at least from the Brevic recognition of his borders, across nearly three hundred miles of eastward expanse until the Castrovin sea stopped him. Thus technically the Varnhold could be considered the largest of the three in geographical claim. Eire knew that Maegar had distributed landholdings across the mercenaries of his company who had wanted to settle down and those who had wanted to continue the adventurous life of a sell sword had been promised a warm place to retire to if they wished to come in the future. It seemed doubtful that Maegar intended to act on such generous recognition as was in the writing of the charter.
The boat jarred as it beached on the river shore and they could look north east to the great expanse of the lake Silverstep wasn't as large as Lake Hooktongue but it was more massive than the Tuskwater, and by no small margin. While there were certainly rivers that flowed down from the mountains in the distance Eire would have been hard pressed not to agree the lake didn't seem natural.
Was it a dragon's footprint?
He was skeptical, but it certainly had the rough appearance of one. While the tuskwater was deep and clear, Silverstep seemed impossibly clean and clear. It was almost impossibly manicured... Eire assumed that to be the work of the native fae tending the land to explain the lilies, reeds and other lake flora that abounded in picturesque beauty.
... and there was no shortage of fae ranging from the expected faerie dragons, and grigs, to brownies and nixies all waiting for Eranex's return... and abruptly they were surrounded filled with a flurry of chatter in languages that ranged from slyvan, and draconic to the elemental languages of Earth, and Water. Most important among that chatter was the news of political disagreements within the bog dwellers in the north of the lake.
Silverstep, the dragon who had sired Eranex, had constructed his lair in the natural caverns that were part of the Tors of Levenies and had partially submerged sections throughout. It was sufficiently a large enough cave complex that it sustained populations of fae, as well as now unfortunately the followers of the missing Eldest Ranalc who were also seeing to find Vesper's Rapier.
"Is that going to be an opportunity?" Jaethal questioned.
Eranex was mistrustful of the undead, but had thus far tolerated her and in turn Jaethal had largely seen fit to avoid most of the acerbic prodding she subjected paladin esque doo gooders to. That was likely in snow small part because unlike Shaoyu's mother Jaethal faced a much more even fight against the chaotic good dragon in a one verus one encounter. That wasn't to say Jaethal would necessary lose but given the situation they were putting aside their mutual distrust in the face of more pressing threats.
That didn't mean Eranex was necessarily happy allowing the, corrupted, bog nixies to be slaughtered by the fethling clerics undead... and she wasn't the only one.
--
Amiri surveyed the cavern around them. It was completely different than the den of the berserk owlbear its proximity to the portal to the other world meant that there were all varieties of colors put off by luminescent rocks, and plants growing, and it was warm and humid here. She suspected that the caves could have easily held the entire six bears following comfortably here, and then some given they'd only made their way through a fraction of the caves working their way towards the sound of fighting.
A fight that she was eager to throw herself into. The bog nixies weren't their friends and she'd been warned to be aware that they were just as likely to be hostile, but there were also ghasts, and mummies to hack apart as well.
"The connection to the first world has grown stronger." One of the faerie dragons remarked. It was true that all the adult faerie dragons were about the size of house cats, but the ones dwelling around the Silverstep were notably smaller than Perlivash, who must have weighed something like thirty pounds by this point. He was larger in length as well, and the only faerie dragon carrying a satchel, which held his spell book. "The sword will appear soon."
Amiri nodded reflexively acknowledging the comment. She didn't know anything more than folktales about the otherworld, but she'd been told about the magical sword. This place felt eerily similar to the strange hall they had found deep below the old scyamore, the sacred place of the kobold and mites who lived under the tremendous tree. It had always been said amongst the Mammoth Lords that the otherworld was accessed by places beneath the earth.
If the old scyamore's shrine had been a campfire being tended by the small ones... this was a real bonfire, that was still being stoked with dried heavy logs for it. They had divided into the two separate parties moving through the tunnels as the lights continued to pulsate throwing shadows across the floors and reflecting in the pools of water. There was a heavy crash in the other direction, and Linzi who had been sent with them squeaked at the sound. "Was that a cave in, do-"
"They'll be fine." Amiri snapped gripping the handle of her great sword tightly as she spied the first of the linen wrapped shambling undead. They would be fine. They would be fine. They would be fine. As if confirmation fire flashed across the ceiling through the hall and tongues of flame lapped into the chamber. The heat increased. She wiped the sweat from her brow, and waved her sword at the undead, "Kill them all." Then charging forward, "For Gorrum!" She bellowed drowning out Tristians attempt at a word in edgewise.
Rocks slid down the pathway from above as dragons roared. Ice, and flame. Sunbursts.
They had their own battle clearing the eighty odd feet to crash into the undead back end as the eccleuithurge finished his chanting waving the icon of his goddess, though Amiri could not see it, felt the sunlight blaze behind her illuminating the dozens of undead, and nixies that lay in front of her even as the earth shook.
The hideous stench did nothing to deter her from bringing the giant's sword down through the first ghast she reached. This was battle, and Amiri shined in battle. This cave network had been made livable for a great dragon to live in comfortably there was plenty of room for armies of men to fight in.
--
Jaethal would have grumbled that if they had waited a little longer than maybe their enemies would have been further along in their infighting. Would have been weaker. It was clear that they had entered into a fight already begun. The Ankou was clearly deranged... under the influence of some kind of hallucinogenic, or poison that had driven him into a more murderous frenzy than could really be put into words. The emaciating bat like skeleton creature had been slashing at the shae rogues. The fetchling Cleric she was now engaged with had been fighting the Rusalka that was now fighting the silver dragon.
Shaoyu stood over the broken body of one of the rogues. The young red dragon had shed her human form in a blast of purging flame, and killed the second rogue of the trio within the first minutes of the fight. Her tail flicked as she stepped forward to face the bloodied and last of the sisters fire flickering from her jaws.
Jaethal kept her scythe, the favored weapon of her goddess, loose. She wasn't especially worried about the cleric's rapier, so much as the agitated angry pulsing of the portal further behind the hostile cleric. That was what had broken up their clash as the cave continued to shake.
The beserk ankou charged towards the baron's floating figure. Even maddened to the point of insanity there was no question that that monster was the more adroit flyer. Malicious claws sliced out against the red eyed baron's side tearing a nasty wound.
This clash had begun as one of mythic proportions, and seemed intent of escalating to greater heights as the noise from the lower levels became running feet as the others moved to join them. Jaethal would have preferred they stayed away even as the clash in the air resulted in a tussle that ended with the large monster breaking away and flying higher still. They were a hundred feet in the air as it was, and the cavern ceiling was probably at least that above them.
The portal pulsed and them exploded in a flash of silver blue light.
The Ankou shrieked, and Jaethal took the opportunity to launch a bane filled strike against the cleric as her eyes tracked the emerging weapon of the first world. Vesper's rapier was an artifact of the fey wild realms more grown than forged or manufactured by mortal hands. Its blues and grey hues looked as if it had its blade made of pattern welded steel. Its hilt was wrapped in if Jaethal were willing to bet was the mixed hide of black and green dragons.
This was a fight at level that was at the edge of lesser creatures.
Long fingers closed around the hilt, safe in the ornate hand guard. The rapier's blade changed in a soft summer glow becoming wider, into a notable triangular shape in contrast to previous long and narrow taper. Skeletal hands flailed desperately for it as as the ankou attempted to reach for the blade, only for the blade to sweep upward and slash through both of the horned bat creature's wrists. Disarmed, and then with its mouth pinned literally shut by the magical sword the Ankou faced a a thundering death as it crashed into the cavern floor.
The end that, the grisly fate, befell Orsig reverberated through the cavern that felt as if they were under the noon day sun. It should have been the end of the fight, but just to be sure Jaethal made sure to remove the fethling cleric's head with a swift strike of her scythe even as Amiri, Tristian, the little dragons, and the rest moved to join them. Eranex, and Shaoyu had both finished their respective enemies as well.
... and the question was now what. Jaethal wasn't entirely sure that a second fight was going to erupt but the baron had the sword that the silver dragon had been sent to retrieve... and hence her wariness. Eire looked probably worse than he was. The fight with dread Orsig had shredded his wool coat, and vestments, and if Jaethal were being honest the long gouging cuts across his midsection had turned flame red looking like scales where blood leaked.
She stepped forward look at the baron's appearance as the world continued to shake.
Oh enough of the humans had made comparisons that the baron resembled of sorts Tristian, or the Abadar cleric Arsinoe, suggesting Asimar like appearance, but if she were honest, more akin to a regal elf... not quite.
The undead elf cut her musings short as the red eyed lord turned his head slightly to one side and started to speak, "I believe this is yours." He remarked offering the sword hilt first... to someone who certainly hadn't been there with them before.
--
Notes: I think we will mostly follow a similar update schedule as last week.
Next time, as I reiterate in the next segment concludes the spring of this year, but it also marks the introduction of the perks from some of the jumpchain content. It is mythic deeds like this which from out of universe standpoint are what earn 'additional cp' or at least thats one way of looking at it. Milestone rewards.
Last edited:
Desnus 4712AR Interlude
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2019
- Messages
- 5,906
- Likes received
- 78,895
Desnus 4712AR
In a silver hue the world turned, blues and grays. The sphere turned, but he recognized the shape of the continents, and also the shape of the landmass he had a bird's eye view of.
This was not Golarion. Golarion was an earth like world. One planet in a solar system rotating around a bright little yellow star with other planets in the system.
Earth. Looking through the lens of the First World a realization struck that it was the year 1917 on Earth... which ordinarily would have made his head spin. The simple cold logistics of the math though told him that he had woken in Avistan on Golarion in what would have been 1915. He was therefore prepared to discount his arrival, regardless of how scant his memories were, with the outbreak of the first world war. It didn't explain how he knew that that was going on on earth... that was simply something he took for granted as a facet of being in this place within the faerie realm.
He knew it to be the truth but he couldn't say why for sure he knew it to be so. That was the magic of the first world. That was Shyka's meddling. Shyka's meddling, her hand reaching out to take advantage of something, someone else?
The exception to the filter hue were broken fragments floating. Some were dull, and others still glowed with fragments of some foreign power. Those hadn't come Shyka ... but he couldn't remember... the last memories were rain and thunder, and night.
There was the gap after.
... and speaking of gaps as he looked at the mud and ruined fields of France through the looking glass he knew that even though Earth was very much a real place returning would do no good. A winding long road lay forward here... not here, but on Golarion. The prospect that it was 1917 caused him to consider the brief mental math.
... 1811 ? That would have been the Napoleonic wars in Europe... but he could think of nothing on earth that would have coincided with as catastrophic a set back as Aroden's death... it only reiterated to him that he doubted that regardless of whatever connections, whatever travel across the cosmos was possible that Golarion and Earth as worlds had much contact with one another. They obviously weren't too distant, but the prospect of time travel left him unbalanced...
... he turned away from the mirror view to look across the shimmering surface of Golarion, and specifically a look from a bird's eye aerial view of the mountains and of lake silverstep from high above.
One of the fragments of the broken baubles pulsed weakly. A not so much warning but notice at least that his time in this part of the first world was approaching its end... in this part. That was the important distinction he recognized. Shyka's realm bordered his own. The barrier between the stolen lands ... the border between this realm and the Stolen Lands more so than most of Golarion was especially trend. If he were to guess just looking at it it was because they reflected each other... maybe that was true maybe it wasn't but the Stolen Lands seemed especially reflective. Maybe it was the elf gates, maybe they had been built to take advantage of an existing confluence of factors... whatever the case was Shyka's realm abutted his in more ways than one it seemed.
Of course the First World was a place where it was nearly impossible to be sure of any geographic relation to one another. There were long winding roads and mists, and rivers, and bodies of water, there were forests and mountains that could take minutes to cross or centuries.
... and of course while there were the domains of the Eldest there were also the smaller realms that were more prone to change those of powerful creatures but whose realms were more ephemeral, more likely to change to grow or to disappear entirely.
He stepped on the road's pathway, and found himself walking through a field of stars. The shiny broken fragments and the diminished ones, and the dead baubles followed around. Eire grabbed the flickering one and kept walking. Golarion Avistan, the Stolen Lands, the little kingdom waited. The fragment of a broken sphere gave another weak pulse, fluttering like the twinkling stars surrounding the path as he walked.
Shyka's realm of grays and blues of haze and mirrors gave to bright light, and warmth. Where Shyka's realm had been occupied by buzzing bees, and herds of sheep, and cattle... and very much what struck him as the sights and sounds of a celtic afterlife, otherworld. This new place was warmer... more humid. There was less fog and more sunlight. It like Shyka's realm was dominated by a mountain in the distance... but he wasn't going there. The path would take him where he needed to go, just as long as he kept walking it with a destination in mind.
As morning light streamed on the horizon his mind burned with possibilities for what awaited him. The fragment of a broken orb slowly continued to dim. Pulsing weaker and weaker as the fragment's power was slowly absorbed and its power could be processed into something new.
He walked and walked the road winding down into a valley and by a river, and that river road eventually took him to a lake with waters clear enough to see the bottom. The dull broken glass fragment stopped pulsing but floated away to join the other nine shattered pieces of an orb.
--
The baron stepped through the portal he had departed from looking tired... but no more worse for the wear than when he had left them behind in the dragon's lair He ran both hands through his hair and groaned stiffly.
Jaethal recognized that the battle between the murderous creature would have sapped anyone's reserves after all, the silver dragon had wanted one of them to fight the beast while she dealt with something not quite as dangerous to herself.
The Many's envoy had felt the portal reactivate, but it wasn't as if she'd been particularly far away. Eranex had been searching the great chamber for any indication of her progenitor, to apparently no avail.... which Jaethal found equally annoying since it raised the question of where were two silver dragons instead of just one. It also raised the possibility of the half fey dragon choosing to stick around... for the moment though she had more pressing issues.
"What happened?" Linzi had rushed up pushing passed her robes, to the portal, her quill in hand, "What did you do?"
Quicksilver eyes glanced down, "I had very long conversation with Shyka about the origins of her sword, and the bard who once owned it." He replied. It was more than that, there had to be more than that, her suspicions were born out, as he offered a small bud, and the silver dragon stared in amazement. "The rather to point Mana Plant, though mana flower might be just as accurate. You asked how we would defend Olegton and Candlemere, and Hereford from hostil attack. When these are mature, when they've grown to maturity they'll be able to power heaven's flame barriers protecting all the communities of the realm."
She didn't ask if he knew how to grow them. To be able to cultivate them... to have the seed would have been the sort of thing to make her kinsmen in Kyonin insanely jealous. A single flower bed planted in Hereford's elven keep could indeed probably power wards to protect the entire western frontier.
Jaethal threw back her head and laughed until her side's ached.
Amiri blinked and rounded on the undead elf, "Is she broken? Its a plant, so its magic..." The Kellid warrior trailed off.
--
Notes: This was not originally planned I'm not sure if I'll update Against the Tide today or not. This is a combination of technically three segments, its nominally canon, you can see a mix of both the original drow cyoa origins in it, and the conclusion of this arc. The expended fragment is roughly a thousand CP: See below.
I haven't spoken with the jump maker yet I have some questions and I do have some issues with the structure and features of the Jump but the nominal expenditure of the CP gained from the fragment are included in the spoiler
Some of the text is simply retained for sorting, and reference, but the formatting borked during copy and paste.
Interlude
In a silver hue the world turned, blues and grays. The sphere turned, but he recognized the shape of the continents, and also the shape of the landmass he had a bird's eye view of.
This was not Golarion. Golarion was an earth like world. One planet in a solar system rotating around a bright little yellow star with other planets in the system.
Earth. Looking through the lens of the First World a realization struck that it was the year 1917 on Earth... which ordinarily would have made his head spin. The simple cold logistics of the math though told him that he had woken in Avistan on Golarion in what would have been 1915. He was therefore prepared to discount his arrival, regardless of how scant his memories were, with the outbreak of the first world war. It didn't explain how he knew that that was going on on earth... that was simply something he took for granted as a facet of being in this place within the faerie realm.
He knew it to be the truth but he couldn't say why for sure he knew it to be so. That was the magic of the first world. That was Shyka's meddling. Shyka's meddling, her hand reaching out to take advantage of something, someone else?
The exception to the filter hue were broken fragments floating. Some were dull, and others still glowed with fragments of some foreign power. Those hadn't come Shyka ... but he couldn't remember... the last memories were rain and thunder, and night.
There was the gap after.
... and speaking of gaps as he looked at the mud and ruined fields of France through the looking glass he knew that even though Earth was very much a real place returning would do no good. A winding long road lay forward here... not here, but on Golarion. The prospect that it was 1917 caused him to consider the brief mental math.
... 1811 ? That would have been the Napoleonic wars in Europe... but he could think of nothing on earth that would have coincided with as catastrophic a set back as Aroden's death... it only reiterated to him that he doubted that regardless of whatever connections, whatever travel across the cosmos was possible that Golarion and Earth as worlds had much contact with one another. They obviously weren't too distant, but the prospect of time travel left him unbalanced...
... he turned away from the mirror view to look across the shimmering surface of Golarion, and specifically a look from a bird's eye aerial view of the mountains and of lake silverstep from high above.
One of the fragments of the broken baubles pulsed weakly. A not so much warning but notice at least that his time in this part of the first world was approaching its end... in this part. That was the important distinction he recognized. Shyka's realm bordered his own. The barrier between the stolen lands ... the border between this realm and the Stolen Lands more so than most of Golarion was especially trend. If he were to guess just looking at it it was because they reflected each other... maybe that was true maybe it wasn't but the Stolen Lands seemed especially reflective. Maybe it was the elf gates, maybe they had been built to take advantage of an existing confluence of factors... whatever the case was Shyka's realm abutted his in more ways than one it seemed.
Of course the First World was a place where it was nearly impossible to be sure of any geographic relation to one another. There were long winding roads and mists, and rivers, and bodies of water, there were forests and mountains that could take minutes to cross or centuries.
... and of course while there were the domains of the Eldest there were also the smaller realms that were more prone to change those of powerful creatures but whose realms were more ephemeral, more likely to change to grow or to disappear entirely.
He stepped on the road's pathway, and found himself walking through a field of stars. The shiny broken fragments and the diminished ones, and the dead baubles followed around. Eire grabbed the flickering one and kept walking. Golarion Avistan, the Stolen Lands, the little kingdom waited. The fragment of a broken sphere gave another weak pulse, fluttering like the twinkling stars surrounding the path as he walked.
Shyka's realm of grays and blues of haze and mirrors gave to bright light, and warmth. Where Shyka's realm had been occupied by buzzing bees, and herds of sheep, and cattle... and very much what struck him as the sights and sounds of a celtic afterlife, otherworld. This new place was warmer... more humid. There was less fog and more sunlight. It like Shyka's realm was dominated by a mountain in the distance... but he wasn't going there. The path would take him where he needed to go, just as long as he kept walking it with a destination in mind.
As morning light streamed on the horizon his mind burned with possibilities for what awaited him. The fragment of a broken orb slowly continued to dim. Pulsing weaker and weaker as the fragment's power was slowly absorbed and its power could be processed into something new.
He walked and walked the road winding down into a valley and by a river, and that river road eventually took him to a lake with waters clear enough to see the bottom. The dull broken glass fragment stopped pulsing but floated away to join the other nine shattered pieces of an orb.
--
The baron stepped through the portal he had departed from looking tired... but no more worse for the wear than when he had left them behind in the dragon's lair He ran both hands through his hair and groaned stiffly.
Jaethal recognized that the battle between the murderous creature would have sapped anyone's reserves after all, the silver dragon had wanted one of them to fight the beast while she dealt with something not quite as dangerous to herself.
The Many's envoy had felt the portal reactivate, but it wasn't as if she'd been particularly far away. Eranex had been searching the great chamber for any indication of her progenitor, to apparently no avail.... which Jaethal found equally annoying since it raised the question of where were two silver dragons instead of just one. It also raised the possibility of the half fey dragon choosing to stick around... for the moment though she had more pressing issues.
"What happened?" Linzi had rushed up pushing passed her robes, to the portal, her quill in hand, "What did you do?"
Quicksilver eyes glanced down, "I had very long conversation with Shyka about the origins of her sword, and the bard who once owned it." He replied. It was more than that, there had to be more than that, her suspicions were born out, as he offered a small bud, and the silver dragon stared in amazement. "The rather to point Mana Plant, though mana flower might be just as accurate. You asked how we would defend Olegton and Candlemere, and Hereford from hostil attack. When these are mature, when they've grown to maturity they'll be able to power heaven's flame barriers protecting all the communities of the realm."
She didn't ask if he knew how to grow them. To be able to cultivate them... to have the seed would have been the sort of thing to make her kinsmen in Kyonin insanely jealous. A single flower bed planted in Hereford's elven keep could indeed probably power wards to protect the entire western frontier.
Jaethal threw back her head and laughed until her side's ached.
Amiri blinked and rounded on the undead elf, "Is she broken? Its a plant, so its magic..." The Kellid warrior trailed off.
--
Notes: This was not originally planned I'm not sure if I'll update Against the Tide today or not. This is a combination of technically three segments, its nominally canon, you can see a mix of both the original drow cyoa origins in it, and the conclusion of this arc. The expended fragment is roughly a thousand CP: See below.
I haven't spoken with the jump maker yet I have some questions and I do have some issues with the structure and features of the Jump but the nominal expenditure of the CP gained from the fragment are included in the spoiler
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jzrst_Ots68j_fTTGziovpLczyJJQhxm/view
- Knightly (100CP, free for Lawful Good)
You hold yourself to a higher standard, and it would not do for your dedication to waver in the face of opposition. You gain a high degree of physical and mental discipline, and you'll find that you not only inspire others around you to act with courage, but that you yourself will never be overwhelmed by fear. This does not mean you do not experience fear - rather, such emotions will never cloud your judgement, cause your hands to shake, or otherwise leave you with such deleterious effects.
Undiscounted
- Esoteric Gardener (200CP)
Having a 'green thumb' is not so unusual - there are countless farmers, herbalists, and other such men and women reliant on their ability to cultivate plants, to speak nothing of what experienced Druids can accomplish. But your gifts take on a rather more… varied approach, and your gift doesn't end with mere mundane or common magical plants. Rather, yours is a gift eminently applicable to the nourishing and cultivating of supernatural flora, in particular those with a strong tie to the First World - with all that implies. Plants and other flora will flourish under your hands, and you could grow massive, otherworldly flowers literally luminescent with gathered magical energies as easily as others might plant wheat or potatoes. You know just how to make plants thrive even in hostile environments, and breeding new, often supernaturally augmented, plants is a trivial matter provided you have some time and a bit of fertile soil. And for those who feel that flowerpots and soil are a poor way to power… think again. A single First World flower, in the hands of a true master, can become a threat more insidious and terrifying than an entire army of invaders.
- First World Flora (100CP, first free with 'Esoteric Gardener')
The wilds of the Stolen Lands contain more than mundane or even magical plants and wildlife. Thanks to the unusually thin barrier between the physical world and the so-called 'First World' where fey make their home, the Stolen Lands see an unusually high variety of otherworldly plants and unusual, plant-like creatures. With each purchase, you gain a number of seeds,
saplings or other such materials suited for growing one of these strange plant types, including instructions on how to plant and nurture them. You also gain the means to control the more dangerous variants and ensure you don't find yourself (or your friends) on the wrong side of a hungry mass of vegetation. Though this control remains fairly basic and instinctive, given these plants aren't exactly smart, it is usually enough to train even the most primitive of these plants such that they only harm those they're supposed to harm - or those being suicidally careless. You may choose from the following options:
Second, the large, lush petals of Mana Plants are used to collect vast amounts of magical power. Though these plants take time to grow and they are useless on their own, their supernatural nature allows even a single such flower to generate vast amounts of arcane energies. Once grown large enough to fill a small room, this type of plant could power a multitude of arcane enchantments, equipment, and wards across an entire castle without difficulty.
- Bountiful (100CP)
The Stolen Lands are a wild, untamed land, with few sites of civilization and barely any infrastructure. But while the region is little more than unmarked canvas on the map, behind its wild appearance lies a remarkable wealth of resources, ripe for the taking. This purchase ensures your entire kingdom is criss-crossed with a wide variety of advantageous quarries and mines, fertile soil or unique spices and crops, old fortifications that can easily be restored to working order, glades and vistas of unusual beauty to inspire bards and attract travelers, and other such locales of interest to a young but ambitious kingdom. The wide variety found in these improvements means improvements to any single aspect of your kingdom will be rather minor, but harnessing these resources provides one of the most reliable and effective ways to improve your kingdom's overall power, prosperity and influence with only minimal effort required.
- Waterways (100CP)
Rivers are the lifeblood of a region, with many towns and cities specifically built along riverbanks for the advantages they provide. Fresh water is quite valuable, fishing is a comparatively fast and reliable source of food, and rivers often enable much more convenient travel both by boat and along the side of the river thanks to (relatively) level ground.
Although the Stolen Lands barely count as being part of the so-called 'River Kingdoms', they are nonetheless criss-crossed with a variety of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. With this perk, the advantages of such terrain features are greatly improved. Rivers are made wider and deeper to allow for larger boats to travel their winding lengths, and your territory will become home to a wide variety of smaller streams that improve access to water for both drinking and farmland. You'll be able to easily construct any major towns you like next to rivers to connect them to the rest of your kingdom, with each gaining the benefits of piers, ports or even a lighthouse. You could even use the water for defense - creating moats around your cities or
heavily defended bridges across rivers that are otherwise hard to cross will not be a challenge for your people.
- Enchanting Wilderness (100CP)
The untamed lands of the Stolen Kingdom contain many dangers… but they contain many wonders as well. Fey glades where the wondrous and eldritch denizens of the world gather, ruined towers and fortresses of ages long past, magical pools whose water carries traces of arcane power… your kingdom has many such places now, and while they'll never be truly safe, they are overall very much a boon to you and your people. The wildlife might become more friendly thanks to heightened intelligence, fairy lights lead lost children home more often than they lead travelers astray, and the various otherworldly flowers and herbs that grow in the secret places of the world can make for excellent folk remedies, for example.
- Fey Realm (300CP, requires Enchanting Wilderness)
Although denizens of the First World do venture out onto Golarion on occasion, few stay for long unless they are particularly motivated or their new home is especially welcoming. With this upgrade, your kingdom's entire territory is shifted slightly closer to the First World, making your realm exceedingly popular as a place to settle - be it temporarily or permanently - for any Fey interested in the realms outside the First World. The esoteric plants and animals found in the First World become far more common, giving your entire realm an otherworldly and at times almost dream-like feel.
Unlike the effects of 'Enchanting Wilderness', these boons are not limited to the wilder and unsettled areas of your kingdom, and indeed the greatest benefits can be found in centers of civilization where people from all walks of life interact. Further, although Fey are often capricious and unpredictable, this upgrade wholly manifests as purely beneficial effects, altering and improving countless facets of your nation... though the exact details will depend on what kind of realm you rule and what other upgrades you've acquired for it.
Just to mention a few examples, a kingdom focused on strong defenses and fortifications might find its city walls threaded through with gigantic, thorny vines and poisonous flowers to ward off sieges or 'grow' temporary fortifications overnight. Illusory fog could disorient bandits and other hostiles while leaving traveling merchants and townsfolk unaffected, and your scouts might be accompanied by nymphs who could track a target by literally asking the plants surrounding them for directions. A content Owlbear could plow a farmer's fields as well as four draft horses put together, and the fishermen working the Tuskwater would be more than happy with Nixies guiding their fishing boats to the richest grounds for trout, eels, or oysters. Your Bard's College could see Satyrs teach music lessons as a Dryad or two shares the beauty of dance with any who wish to learn. Plus, the economic impact of ready access to First World fruits and produce is matched only by the cultural impact of the culinary feats made possible with them! In short, this upgrade provides minor improvements to your entire kingdom, enhancing all other upgrades with a small but noticeable - and potentially rather bizarre - change to their effect.
- Marketplace (Free)
Serving as a center of commerce and the economic heart of the city, the Marketplace is the place to be if you're looking to buy (or sell) anything in particular. With shops ranging from food merchants selling produce harvested at nearby farms to exotic merchants trading in magical items from far-off lands, there's a wide variety of things for sale… though at least initially, you'll find far more of the former than the latter.
Your capital, and any other cities you might rule over in your kingdom, come with such a plaza or field, forming the basic backbone of your economic infrastructure. Though initially you'll have only very limited goods available, as your kingdom grows and prospers you'll find that you'll attract more merchants, gain access to a wider variety of goods, and you might even find yourself with occasional opportunities to set up exclusive trade deals.
If nothing else, the Marketplace will benefit from any other upgrades you buy for your kingdom - 'Bountiful' might ensure a wider range of raw materials, resources, or food, for example, and the magical institutions from 'Foci And Formulae' might open a shop or two where one may find magical items for sale.
- Safe Travels (200CP, free for Lawful Good)
A nation does not end at its cities' walls, and you'll find that the roads and farmlands that crisscross the wilderness of the Stolen Lands are at least as important as the grand institutions of the capital. With this upgrade, you gain the advantages of a much better protected travel system to support your people. Where before you might have had mere dirt tracks and muddy paths leading to your villages, now you'll have roads made with cobblestone or even granite setts - allowing for far faster and easier travel all year round. You'll likewise gain high-quality stone bridges over any rivers that might otherwise form obstacles, including a small garrison for protection against hostiles, toll collection, and other such economic and safety concerns. As your kingdom grows and prospers, you might even find yourself with easy access to watchtowers and other small outposts to keep the roads safe, further reducing the risk of banditry, goblin infestations and wild animal attacks alike.
- Nurture (100CP)
Mighty fortifications and rich treasure vaults might all speak to the imagination, but for true greatness in a kingdom you need to look beyond things made of stone and steel. The living, breathing side of a kingdom serves as an immensely important aspect of daily life, ranging from farms and livestock to the trees and gardens used to liven up the cities of your realm. With this upgrade, your kingdom receives an overall boost to using natural things, both in terms of growing plants and animals as well as finding more creative or appealing uses for them. Farmers are more skilled and produce more food, herbalists and gardeners provide a wide variety of folk remedies, and skillfully crafted city gardens and even a park or two can provide a remarkable improvement to the overall serenity of your lands and the happiness of its people. You'll probably be able to set up dedicated breeding programs for horses, dogs, and other such animals with little difficulty.
You have 1000CP to get started.
Perks
Lawful Good:Perks
- Knightly (100CP, free for Lawful Good)
You hold yourself to a higher standard, and it would not do for your dedication to waver in the face of opposition. You gain a high degree of physical and mental discipline, and you'll find that you not only inspire others around you to act with courage, but that you yourself will never be overwhelmed by fear. This does not mean you do not experience fear - rather, such emotions will never cloud your judgement, cause your hands to shake, or otherwise leave you with such deleterious effects.
Undiscounted
- Esoteric Gardener (200CP)
Having a 'green thumb' is not so unusual - there are countless farmers, herbalists, and other such men and women reliant on their ability to cultivate plants, to speak nothing of what experienced Druids can accomplish. But your gifts take on a rather more… varied approach, and your gift doesn't end with mere mundane or common magical plants. Rather, yours is a gift eminently applicable to the nourishing and cultivating of supernatural flora, in particular those with a strong tie to the First World - with all that implies. Plants and other flora will flourish under your hands, and you could grow massive, otherworldly flowers literally luminescent with gathered magical energies as easily as others might plant wheat or potatoes. You know just how to make plants thrive even in hostile environments, and breeding new, often supernaturally augmented, plants is a trivial matter provided you have some time and a bit of fertile soil. And for those who feel that flowerpots and soil are a poor way to power… think again. A single First World flower, in the hands of a true master, can become a threat more insidious and terrifying than an entire army of invaders.
Items
All items may be bought multiple times if you wish. You may freely import purchased items into existing ones you already possess, provided they are similar in nature. For example, if you have a specific suit you like to use, you may choose to make this the base item for your 'Attuned Artifact' purchase to grant it additional enchantments or abilities. All items are restored or replaced in a week, should they be damaged, lost or destroyed.- First World Flora (100CP, first free with 'Esoteric Gardener')
The wilds of the Stolen Lands contain more than mundane or even magical plants and wildlife. Thanks to the unusually thin barrier between the physical world and the so-called 'First World' where fey make their home, the Stolen Lands see an unusually high variety of otherworldly plants and unusual, plant-like creatures. With each purchase, you gain a number of seeds,
saplings or other such materials suited for growing one of these strange plant types, including instructions on how to plant and nurture them. You also gain the means to control the more dangerous variants and ensure you don't find yourself (or your friends) on the wrong side of a hungry mass of vegetation. Though this control remains fairly basic and instinctive, given these plants aren't exactly smart, it is usually enough to train even the most primitive of these plants such that they only harm those they're supposed to harm - or those being suicidally careless. You may choose from the following options:
Second, the large, lush petals of Mana Plants are used to collect vast amounts of magical power. Though these plants take time to grow and they are useless on their own, their supernatural nature allows even a single such flower to generate vast amounts of arcane energies. Once grown large enough to fill a small room, this type of plant could power a multitude of arcane enchantments, equipment, and wards across an entire castle without difficulty.
The Kingdom
Lands And Rule
Forming the heart and soul of any nation, the territories upon which your kingdom is built are perhaps the most critical aspect to consider. The Stolen Lands, for all their wild, uncharted roughness, provide plentiful opportunities and will make for an excellent foundation to build your realm, but if you're willing to pay the price there are a wide variety of options available to bring your rule to new heights.- Bountiful (100CP)
The Stolen Lands are a wild, untamed land, with few sites of civilization and barely any infrastructure. But while the region is little more than unmarked canvas on the map, behind its wild appearance lies a remarkable wealth of resources, ripe for the taking. This purchase ensures your entire kingdom is criss-crossed with a wide variety of advantageous quarries and mines, fertile soil or unique spices and crops, old fortifications that can easily be restored to working order, glades and vistas of unusual beauty to inspire bards and attract travelers, and other such locales of interest to a young but ambitious kingdom. The wide variety found in these improvements means improvements to any single aspect of your kingdom will be rather minor, but harnessing these resources provides one of the most reliable and effective ways to improve your kingdom's overall power, prosperity and influence with only minimal effort required.
- Waterways (100CP)
Rivers are the lifeblood of a region, with many towns and cities specifically built along riverbanks for the advantages they provide. Fresh water is quite valuable, fishing is a comparatively fast and reliable source of food, and rivers often enable much more convenient travel both by boat and along the side of the river thanks to (relatively) level ground.
Although the Stolen Lands barely count as being part of the so-called 'River Kingdoms', they are nonetheless criss-crossed with a variety of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. With this perk, the advantages of such terrain features are greatly improved. Rivers are made wider and deeper to allow for larger boats to travel their winding lengths, and your territory will become home to a wide variety of smaller streams that improve access to water for both drinking and farmland. You'll be able to easily construct any major towns you like next to rivers to connect them to the rest of your kingdom, with each gaining the benefits of piers, ports or even a lighthouse. You could even use the water for defense - creating moats around your cities or
heavily defended bridges across rivers that are otherwise hard to cross will not be a challenge for your people.
- Enchanting Wilderness (100CP)
The untamed lands of the Stolen Kingdom contain many dangers… but they contain many wonders as well. Fey glades where the wondrous and eldritch denizens of the world gather, ruined towers and fortresses of ages long past, magical pools whose water carries traces of arcane power… your kingdom has many such places now, and while they'll never be truly safe, they are overall very much a boon to you and your people. The wildlife might become more friendly thanks to heightened intelligence, fairy lights lead lost children home more often than they lead travelers astray, and the various otherworldly flowers and herbs that grow in the secret places of the world can make for excellent folk remedies, for example.
- Fey Realm (300CP, requires Enchanting Wilderness)
Although denizens of the First World do venture out onto Golarion on occasion, few stay for long unless they are particularly motivated or their new home is especially welcoming. With this upgrade, your kingdom's entire territory is shifted slightly closer to the First World, making your realm exceedingly popular as a place to settle - be it temporarily or permanently - for any Fey interested in the realms outside the First World. The esoteric plants and animals found in the First World become far more common, giving your entire realm an otherworldly and at times almost dream-like feel.
Unlike the effects of 'Enchanting Wilderness', these boons are not limited to the wilder and unsettled areas of your kingdom, and indeed the greatest benefits can be found in centers of civilization where people from all walks of life interact. Further, although Fey are often capricious and unpredictable, this upgrade wholly manifests as purely beneficial effects, altering and improving countless facets of your nation... though the exact details will depend on what kind of realm you rule and what other upgrades you've acquired for it.
Just to mention a few examples, a kingdom focused on strong defenses and fortifications might find its city walls threaded through with gigantic, thorny vines and poisonous flowers to ward off sieges or 'grow' temporary fortifications overnight. Illusory fog could disorient bandits and other hostiles while leaving traveling merchants and townsfolk unaffected, and your scouts might be accompanied by nymphs who could track a target by literally asking the plants surrounding them for directions. A content Owlbear could plow a farmer's fields as well as four draft horses put together, and the fishermen working the Tuskwater would be more than happy with Nixies guiding their fishing boats to the richest grounds for trout, eels, or oysters. Your Bard's College could see Satyrs teach music lessons as a Dryad or two shares the beauty of dance with any who wish to learn. Plus, the economic impact of ready access to First World fruits and produce is matched only by the cultural impact of the culinary feats made possible with them! In short, this upgrade provides minor improvements to your entire kingdom, enhancing all other upgrades with a small but noticeable - and potentially rather bizarre - change to their effect.
Economy
Purchases from this section focus on the prosperity of your kingdom - offering improvements to trade, enterprise, and the overall wealth of your subjects.- Marketplace (Free)
Serving as a center of commerce and the economic heart of the city, the Marketplace is the place to be if you're looking to buy (or sell) anything in particular. With shops ranging from food merchants selling produce harvested at nearby farms to exotic merchants trading in magical items from far-off lands, there's a wide variety of things for sale… though at least initially, you'll find far more of the former than the latter.
Your capital, and any other cities you might rule over in your kingdom, come with such a plaza or field, forming the basic backbone of your economic infrastructure. Though initially you'll have only very limited goods available, as your kingdom grows and prospers you'll find that you'll attract more merchants, gain access to a wider variety of goods, and you might even find yourself with occasional opportunities to set up exclusive trade deals.
If nothing else, the Marketplace will benefit from any other upgrades you buy for your kingdom - 'Bountiful' might ensure a wider range of raw materials, resources, or food, for example, and the magical institutions from 'Foci And Formulae' might open a shop or two where one may find magical items for sale.
- Safe Travels (200CP, free for Lawful Good)
A nation does not end at its cities' walls, and you'll find that the roads and farmlands that crisscross the wilderness of the Stolen Lands are at least as important as the grand institutions of the capital. With this upgrade, you gain the advantages of a much better protected travel system to support your people. Where before you might have had mere dirt tracks and muddy paths leading to your villages, now you'll have roads made with cobblestone or even granite setts - allowing for far faster and easier travel all year round. You'll likewise gain high-quality stone bridges over any rivers that might otherwise form obstacles, including a small garrison for protection against hostiles, toll collection, and other such economic and safety concerns. As your kingdom grows and prospers, you might even find yourself with easy access to watchtowers and other small outposts to keep the roads safe, further reducing the risk of banditry, goblin infestations and wild animal attacks alike.
Society
Options in this section focus primarily on who your people are, rather than merely what they do. If you want to guide your people to a certain sense of identity, specific moral values, or to otherwise gain more fine control over their outlook on life, the purchases here will get you started.- Nurture (100CP)
Mighty fortifications and rich treasure vaults might all speak to the imagination, but for true greatness in a kingdom you need to look beyond things made of stone and steel. The living, breathing side of a kingdom serves as an immensely important aspect of daily life, ranging from farms and livestock to the trees and gardens used to liven up the cities of your realm. With this upgrade, your kingdom receives an overall boost to using natural things, both in terms of growing plants and animals as well as finding more creative or appealing uses for them. Farmers are more skilled and produce more food, herbalists and gardeners provide a wide variety of folk remedies, and skillfully crafted city gardens and even a park or two can provide a remarkable improvement to the overall serenity of your lands and the happiness of its people. You'll probably be able to set up dedicated breeding programs for horses, dogs, and other such animals with little difficulty.
Class And Kit (Free) To be a Pathfinder is to have potential, and you're no different. You don't have much of a choice, really - the challenges and opportunities you'll face are unsuited to lesser men and women. You gain a single level for any (starting) Class available in the Pathfinder:Kingmaker game, and are ensured the ability to further hone these skills through practice, overcoming challenges, or whatever other methods you use to better yourself. You can choose the approximate details for this initial level, such as being specifically a Sylvan bloodline Sorcerer - though you cannot change these choices after you've made them.
Attributes (50CP, first purchase free) Like any other adventurer, the life of a Pathfinder has certain requirements for one to thrive in this line of work. There is no room for the slow, the dull, the weak - except perhaps as a corpse to be found for the more competent group who comes after. Consequently, you will, pretty much by necessity, excel in at least one particular physical or mental ability - strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom or charisma. With each purchase, you guarantee yourself peak human (or peak elven, halfling, or whichever of Golarion's races you might be) ability in one attribute, which will become a sizable boost to this attribute if you are already capable of reaching such heights (or beyond) without this Perk. This improvement is roughly equivalent to those gained by wearing some of the most potent magical items, and stacks with any other such boons you might possess. The first, free, purchase of this perk always applies to one of the ability scores that is most important for your chosen profession and Class, such as Dexterity for a Rogue or Intelligence for an Alchemist. Repeat purchases may be applied to any attribute not yet improved.
Basic Adventurer Gear (Free for all)
Though extremely simple, even the most legendary figures usually start with rather humble beginnings such as these. This collection includes a well-made but otherwise mundane weapon of your choice (including a sizable amount of ammunition such as arrows if required), a comfortable suit of armor such as studded leather or chainmail, various camping supplies including a few food rations, and a map of the Stolen Lands with a mere handful of landmarks filled in. It's enough to get you started, though you'll really want to get better gear as soon as possible.
The Capital (Free) The largest city that forms the heart of your kingdom, the capital is the seat of your power, and is usually the oldest and most powerful city under your rule. That said, by default it starts off as little more than a small collection of wooden houses and dirt roads in the middle of the Stolen Lands, with barely any other signs of civilization nearby. The capital comes with a decently-sized amount of territory around it, though most of it will (initially) be largely untamed wilderness. Its population is small, but your people are tough and determined to make a life for themselves here. Your 'court' will initially be little more than a large, wooden hall that mostly keeps the outside cold from creeping in. In short, it's... a humble start. But though you may begin with little, your kingdom could grow to glorious heights of power and influence if you play your cards right. The Capital will slowly grow in size and sophistication as your kingdom thrives and grows more powerful, be it as you put in the time and effort during your stay here to guide it to such grand futures, or because you took a head start by purchasing additional advantages further in this section. In time, you could rule from a magnificent palace, with the stonework streets outside clamoring with countless travelers, merchants, and others citizens under your rule. You will only have one capital in your kingdom, for obvious reasons, and this option can only be taken once.
The Tavern (Free) While your palace may be the point from which the land is ruled, and the various town halls provide more local leadership, it's the tavern which usually forms the (unofficial) heart of the various settlements in the Stolen Lands. Serving as a place to rest and relax after a hard day's work for the local population, a meeting point for merchants, travelers, and other outsiders, and the focal point of more than a few events of note, these structures are indispensable in maintaining a society's sense of belonging and community. Your capital and any further settlements you might possess come with such a meeting place, including the ever-present ale, food, and gossip one would expect from such an establishment. It's a good place to catch up on news and rumors, or simply to get some well-earned relaxation away from the hardships of ruling your kingdom. The Tavern may or may not (eventually) come with an Owlbear carpet and various other trophies, depending on your own exploits. Perhaps you'll find a few new surprises if you return after an adventure or two...
Attributes (50CP, first purchase free) Like any other adventurer, the life of a Pathfinder has certain requirements for one to thrive in this line of work. There is no room for the slow, the dull, the weak - except perhaps as a corpse to be found for the more competent group who comes after. Consequently, you will, pretty much by necessity, excel in at least one particular physical or mental ability - strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom or charisma. With each purchase, you guarantee yourself peak human (or peak elven, halfling, or whichever of Golarion's races you might be) ability in one attribute, which will become a sizable boost to this attribute if you are already capable of reaching such heights (or beyond) without this Perk. This improvement is roughly equivalent to those gained by wearing some of the most potent magical items, and stacks with any other such boons you might possess. The first, free, purchase of this perk always applies to one of the ability scores that is most important for your chosen profession and Class, such as Dexterity for a Rogue or Intelligence for an Alchemist. Repeat purchases may be applied to any attribute not yet improved.
Basic Adventurer Gear (Free for all)
Though extremely simple, even the most legendary figures usually start with rather humble beginnings such as these. This collection includes a well-made but otherwise mundane weapon of your choice (including a sizable amount of ammunition such as arrows if required), a comfortable suit of armor such as studded leather or chainmail, various camping supplies including a few food rations, and a map of the Stolen Lands with a mere handful of landmarks filled in. It's enough to get you started, though you'll really want to get better gear as soon as possible.
The Capital (Free) The largest city that forms the heart of your kingdom, the capital is the seat of your power, and is usually the oldest and most powerful city under your rule. That said, by default it starts off as little more than a small collection of wooden houses and dirt roads in the middle of the Stolen Lands, with barely any other signs of civilization nearby. The capital comes with a decently-sized amount of territory around it, though most of it will (initially) be largely untamed wilderness. Its population is small, but your people are tough and determined to make a life for themselves here. Your 'court' will initially be little more than a large, wooden hall that mostly keeps the outside cold from creeping in. In short, it's... a humble start. But though you may begin with little, your kingdom could grow to glorious heights of power and influence if you play your cards right. The Capital will slowly grow in size and sophistication as your kingdom thrives and grows more powerful, be it as you put in the time and effort during your stay here to guide it to such grand futures, or because you took a head start by purchasing additional advantages further in this section. In time, you could rule from a magnificent palace, with the stonework streets outside clamoring with countless travelers, merchants, and others citizens under your rule. You will only have one capital in your kingdom, for obvious reasons, and this option can only be taken once.
The Tavern (Free) While your palace may be the point from which the land is ruled, and the various town halls provide more local leadership, it's the tavern which usually forms the (unofficial) heart of the various settlements in the Stolen Lands. Serving as a place to rest and relax after a hard day's work for the local population, a meeting point for merchants, travelers, and other outsiders, and the focal point of more than a few events of note, these structures are indispensable in maintaining a society's sense of belonging and community. Your capital and any further settlements you might possess come with such a meeting place, including the ever-present ale, food, and gossip one would expect from such an establishment. It's a good place to catch up on news and rumors, or simply to get some well-earned relaxation away from the hardships of ruling your kingdom. The Tavern may or may not (eventually) come with an Owlbear carpet and various other trophies, depending on your own exploits. Perhaps you'll find a few new surprises if you return after an adventure or two...
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Trek
The Ascendant
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Pretty good build with the limited cp, that jump is a cp vampire for sure.
Personally I would have gone for the uncapped over the kingdom stuff, after all with power you can easily get all that kingdom stuff but you cant exactly get a uncapper anywhere else.
Personally I would have gone for the uncapped over the kingdom stuff, after all with power you can easily get all that kingdom stuff but you cant exactly get a uncapper anywhere else.
Imperator Pax
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When you say uncapper, which perk are you talking about?
-
I was considering dropping Enchanting WIlderness and Fey Realm until later (CP being gained from digesting each of those pieces of the orb in this previous segment), the next round will be on the creation of the monarchy / kingdom / as a symbolic event
Trek
The Ascendant
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I meant
Unformed (600CP)
The creatures of the First World come in many shapes, sizes and overall levels of power - first
among them the so-called 'Eldest', including Shyka The Many, the Lost Prince, and the Lantern
King. Beings of nearly godlike power, these Fey lords are nigh omnipotent in their own realms of
the First World… but like any other creature originating from the gods' first 'test' of Creation,
their powers are still mutable. Some may grow stronger or weaker through their own actions,
outside circumstances sometimes result in strange differences in their apparent might, and in
some, exceedingly rare cases… one may become an Elder without already possessing such
power.
Nyrissa once thought herself on this level, but her hubris saw her broken instead. You, on the
other hand, share a certain spark, a dim flicker of power within that - should it be fed and fanned
by experience and growth - will eventually see you rise to such lofty heights.
Much like Magdh is a seer and prophet of surpassing skill, Shyka The Many's powers relate
around the flow and manipulation of time, and the Lantern King is the Eldest of mischief,
transformation and doom, so too must you choose a particular focus for your slowly awakening
nature. With this power, you will learn any Pathfinder talents falling under your chosen focus at a
vastly greater speed, simultaneously removing any limitations on how far these abilities might
grow.
You start only barely stronger than you otherwise would, but in time, you will be mighty enough
to become one of Golarion's most powerful beings. You will need patience, however… the First
World is old, and so are those who would rule it. Without continually pushing yourself to excel, to
surpass old achievements and grasp even greater power, it could take centuries or even
millennia before you are a peer to the other Eldest. Make sure you know when your claim is
worthy - or you too might be forced to know Nyrissa's sorrow.
The creatures of the First World come in many shapes, sizes and overall levels of power - first
among them the so-called 'Eldest', including Shyka The Many, the Lost Prince, and the Lantern
King. Beings of nearly godlike power, these Fey lords are nigh omnipotent in their own realms of
the First World… but like any other creature originating from the gods' first 'test' of Creation,
their powers are still mutable. Some may grow stronger or weaker through their own actions,
outside circumstances sometimes result in strange differences in their apparent might, and in
some, exceedingly rare cases… one may become an Elder without already possessing such
power.
Nyrissa once thought herself on this level, but her hubris saw her broken instead. You, on the
other hand, share a certain spark, a dim flicker of power within that - should it be fed and fanned
by experience and growth - will eventually see you rise to such lofty heights.
Much like Magdh is a seer and prophet of surpassing skill, Shyka The Many's powers relate
around the flow and manipulation of time, and the Lantern King is the Eldest of mischief,
transformation and doom, so too must you choose a particular focus for your slowly awakening
nature. With this power, you will learn any Pathfinder talents falling under your chosen focus at a
vastly greater speed, simultaneously removing any limitations on how far these abilities might
grow.
You start only barely stronger than you otherwise would, but in time, you will be mighty enough
to become one of Golarion's most powerful beings. You will need patience, however… the First
World is old, and so are those who would rule it. Without continually pushing yourself to excel, to
surpass old achievements and grasp even greater power, it could take centuries or even
millennia before you are a peer to the other Eldest. Make sure you know when your claim is
worthy - or you too might be forced to know Nyrissa's sorrow.
Pretty much everything else in the doc you can get with effort time and a lot of magic the most valuable thing is the uncapped and maybe the ageless perk. Because this is the only thing perhaps in the entire local multiverse which makes sure that if you live and train long enough you will surpass even the eldest gods and fey.
Even a lot of the kingdom perks are irrelevant as with a lot of effort and time you can just get that stuff yourself.
Most valuable things from the jumpdoc is the immortality and uncapper and maybe the paper bound fate perk. Though it is a cp vampire jump so you have to pick and choose.
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Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Ok that was what I thought you meant. I was just making sure I hadn't missed something.
Right:
Alternate:
1000CP
Freebies:
Lawful Good:
- Knightly (100CP, free for Lawful Good)
You hold yourself to a higher standard, and it would not do for your dedication to waver in the face of opposition. You gain a high degree of physical and mental discipline, and you'll find that you not only inspire others around you to act with courage, but that you yourself will never be overwhelmed by fear. This does not mean you do not experience fear - rather, such emotions will never cloud your judgement, cause your hands to shake, or otherwise leave you with such deleterious effects.
- First World Flora (100CP, first free with 'Esoteric Gardener')
The wilds of the Stolen Lands contain more than mundane or even magical plants and wildlife. Thanks to the unusually thin barrier between the physical world and the so-called 'First World' where fey make their home, the Stolen Lands see an unusually high variety of otherworldly plants and unusual, plant-like creatures. With each purchase, you gain a number of seeds,
saplings or other such materials suited for growing one of these strange plant types, including instructions on how to plant and nurture them. You also gain the means to control the more dangerous variants and ensure you don't find yourself (or your friends) on the wrong side of a hungry mass of vegetation. Though this control remains fairly basic and instinctive, given these plants aren't exactly smart, it is usually enough to train even the most primitive of these plants such that they only harm those they're supposed to harm - or those being suicidally careless. You may choose from the following options:
Second, the large, lush petals of Mana Plants are used to collect vast amounts of magical power. Though these plants take time to grow and they are useless on their own, their supernatural nature allows even a single such flower to generate vast amounts of arcane energies. Once grown large enough to fill a small room, this type of plant could power a multitude of arcane enchantments, equipment, and wards across an entire castle without difficulty.
- Safe Travels (200CP, free for Lawful Good)
A nation does not end at its cities' walls, and you'll find that the roads and farmlands that crisscross the wilderness of the Stolen Lands are at least as important as the grand institutions of the capital. With this upgrade, you gain the advantages of a much better protected travel system to support your people. Where before you might have had mere dirt tracks and muddy paths leading to your villages, now you'll have roads made with cobblestone or even granite setts - allowing for far faster and easier travel all year round. You'll likewise gain high-quality stone bridges over any rivers that might otherwise form obstacles, including a small garrison for protection against hostiles, toll collection, and other such economic and safety concerns. As your kingdom grows and prospers, you might even find yourself with easy access to watchtowers and other small outposts to keep the roads safe, further reducing the risk of banditry, goblin infestations and wild animal attacks alike.
--
- Esoteric Gardener (200CP)
Having a 'green thumb' is not so unusual - there are countless farmers, herbalists, and other such men and women reliant on their ability to cultivate plants, to speak nothing of what experienced Druids can accomplish. But your gifts take on a rather more… varied approach, and your gift doesn't end with mere mundane or common magical plants. Rather, yours is a gift eminently applicable to the nourishing and cultivating of supernatural flora, in particular those with a strong tie to the First World - with all that implies. Plants and other flora will flourish under your hands, and you could grow massive, otherworldly flowers literally luminescent with gathered magical energies as easily as others might plant wheat or potatoes. You know just how to make plants thrive even in hostile environments, and breeding new, often supernaturally augmented, plants is a trivial matter provided you have some time and a bit of fertile soil. And for those who feel that flowerpots and soil are a poor way to power… think again. A single First World flower, in the hands of a true master, can become a threat more insidious and terrifying than an entire army of invaders.
- Unformed (600CP) The creatures of the First World come in many shapes, sizes and overall levels of power - first among them the so-called 'Eldest', including Shyka The Many, the Lost Prince, and the Lantern King. Beings of nearly godlike power, these Fey lords are nigh omnipotent in their own realms of the First World... but like any other creature originating from the gods' first 'test' of Creation, their powers are still mutable. Some may grow stronger or weaker through their own actions, outside circumstances sometimes result in strange differences in their apparent might, and in some, exceedingly rare cases... one may become an Elder without already possessing such power. Nyrissa once thought herself on this level, but her hubris saw her broken instead. You, on the other hand, share a certain spark, a dim flicker of power within that - should it be fed and fanned by experience and growth - will eventually see you rise to such lofty heights. Much like Magdh is a seer and prophet of surpassing skill, Shyka The Many's powers relate around the flow and manipulation of time, and the Lantern King is the Eldest of mischief, transformation and doom, so too must you choose a particular focus for your slowly awakening nature. With this power, you will learn any Pathfinder talents falling under your chosen focus at a vastly greater speed, simultaneously removing any limitations on how far these abilities might grow. You start only barely stronger than you otherwise would, but in time, you will be mighty enough to become one of Golarion's most powerful beings. You will need patience, however... the First World is old, and so are those who would rule it. Without continually pushing yourself to excel, to surpass old achievements and grasp even greater power, it could take centuries or even millennia before you are a peer to the other Eldest. Make sure you know when your claim is worthy - or you too might be forced to know Nyrissa's sorrow.
- Bountiful (100CP)
The Stolen Lands are a wild, untamed land, with few sites of civilization and barely any infrastructure. But while the region is little more than unmarked canvas on the map, behind its wild appearance lies a remarkable wealth of resources, ripe for the taking. This purchase ensures your entire kingdom is criss-crossed with a wide variety of advantageous quarries and mines, fertile soil or unique spices and crops, old fortifications that can easily be restored to working order, glades and vistas of unusual beauty to inspire bards and attract travelers, and other such locales of interest to a young but ambitious kingdom. The wide variety found in these improvements means improvements to any single aspect of your kingdom will be rather minor, but harnessing these resources provides one of the most reliable and effective ways to improve your kingdom's overall power, prosperity and influence with only minimal effort required.
- Waterways (100CP)
Rivers are the lifeblood of a region, with many towns and cities specifically built along riverbanks for the advantages they provide. Fresh water is quite valuable, fishing is a comparatively fast and reliable source of food, and rivers often enable much more convenient travel both by boat and along the side of the river thanks to (relatively) level ground.
Although the Stolen Lands barely count as being part of the so-called 'River Kingdoms', they are nonetheless criss-crossed with a variety of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. With this perk, the advantages of such terrain features are greatly improved. Rivers are made wider and deeper to allow for larger boats to travel their winding lengths, and your territory will become home to a wide variety of smaller streams that improve access to water for both drinking and farmland. You'll be able to easily construct any major towns you like next to rivers to connect them to the rest of your kingdom, with each gaining the benefits of piers, ports or even a lighthouse. You could even use the water for defense - creating moats around your cities or
heavily defended bridges across rivers that are otherwise hard to cross will not be a challenge for your people.
Freebies:
Lawful Good:
- Knightly (100CP, free for Lawful Good)
You hold yourself to a higher standard, and it would not do for your dedication to waver in the face of opposition. You gain a high degree of physical and mental discipline, and you'll find that you not only inspire others around you to act with courage, but that you yourself will never be overwhelmed by fear. This does not mean you do not experience fear - rather, such emotions will never cloud your judgement, cause your hands to shake, or otherwise leave you with such deleterious effects.
- First World Flora (100CP, first free with 'Esoteric Gardener')
The wilds of the Stolen Lands contain more than mundane or even magical plants and wildlife. Thanks to the unusually thin barrier between the physical world and the so-called 'First World' where fey make their home, the Stolen Lands see an unusually high variety of otherworldly plants and unusual, plant-like creatures. With each purchase, you gain a number of seeds,
saplings or other such materials suited for growing one of these strange plant types, including instructions on how to plant and nurture them. You also gain the means to control the more dangerous variants and ensure you don't find yourself (or your friends) on the wrong side of a hungry mass of vegetation. Though this control remains fairly basic and instinctive, given these plants aren't exactly smart, it is usually enough to train even the most primitive of these plants such that they only harm those they're supposed to harm - or those being suicidally careless. You may choose from the following options:
Second, the large, lush petals of Mana Plants are used to collect vast amounts of magical power. Though these plants take time to grow and they are useless on their own, their supernatural nature allows even a single such flower to generate vast amounts of arcane energies. Once grown large enough to fill a small room, this type of plant could power a multitude of arcane enchantments, equipment, and wards across an entire castle without difficulty.
- Safe Travels (200CP, free for Lawful Good)
A nation does not end at its cities' walls, and you'll find that the roads and farmlands that crisscross the wilderness of the Stolen Lands are at least as important as the grand institutions of the capital. With this upgrade, you gain the advantages of a much better protected travel system to support your people. Where before you might have had mere dirt tracks and muddy paths leading to your villages, now you'll have roads made with cobblestone or even granite setts - allowing for far faster and easier travel all year round. You'll likewise gain high-quality stone bridges over any rivers that might otherwise form obstacles, including a small garrison for protection against hostiles, toll collection, and other such economic and safety concerns. As your kingdom grows and prospers, you might even find yourself with easy access to watchtowers and other small outposts to keep the roads safe, further reducing the risk of banditry, goblin infestations and wild animal attacks alike.
--
- Esoteric Gardener (200CP)
Having a 'green thumb' is not so unusual - there are countless farmers, herbalists, and other such men and women reliant on their ability to cultivate plants, to speak nothing of what experienced Druids can accomplish. But your gifts take on a rather more… varied approach, and your gift doesn't end with mere mundane or common magical plants. Rather, yours is a gift eminently applicable to the nourishing and cultivating of supernatural flora, in particular those with a strong tie to the First World - with all that implies. Plants and other flora will flourish under your hands, and you could grow massive, otherworldly flowers literally luminescent with gathered magical energies as easily as others might plant wheat or potatoes. You know just how to make plants thrive even in hostile environments, and breeding new, often supernaturally augmented, plants is a trivial matter provided you have some time and a bit of fertile soil. And for those who feel that flowerpots and soil are a poor way to power… think again. A single First World flower, in the hands of a true master, can become a threat more insidious and terrifying than an entire army of invaders.
- Unformed (600CP) The creatures of the First World come in many shapes, sizes and overall levels of power - first among them the so-called 'Eldest', including Shyka The Many, the Lost Prince, and the Lantern King. Beings of nearly godlike power, these Fey lords are nigh omnipotent in their own realms of the First World... but like any other creature originating from the gods' first 'test' of Creation, their powers are still mutable. Some may grow stronger or weaker through their own actions, outside circumstances sometimes result in strange differences in their apparent might, and in some, exceedingly rare cases... one may become an Elder without already possessing such power. Nyrissa once thought herself on this level, but her hubris saw her broken instead. You, on the other hand, share a certain spark, a dim flicker of power within that - should it be fed and fanned by experience and growth - will eventually see you rise to such lofty heights. Much like Magdh is a seer and prophet of surpassing skill, Shyka The Many's powers relate around the flow and manipulation of time, and the Lantern King is the Eldest of mischief, transformation and doom, so too must you choose a particular focus for your slowly awakening nature. With this power, you will learn any Pathfinder talents falling under your chosen focus at a vastly greater speed, simultaneously removing any limitations on how far these abilities might grow. You start only barely stronger than you otherwise would, but in time, you will be mighty enough to become one of Golarion's most powerful beings. You will need patience, however... the First World is old, and so are those who would rule it. Without continually pushing yourself to excel, to surpass old achievements and grasp even greater power, it could take centuries or even millennia before you are a peer to the other Eldest. Make sure you know when your claim is worthy - or you too might be forced to know Nyrissa's sorrow.
- Bountiful (100CP)
The Stolen Lands are a wild, untamed land, with few sites of civilization and barely any infrastructure. But while the region is little more than unmarked canvas on the map, behind its wild appearance lies a remarkable wealth of resources, ripe for the taking. This purchase ensures your entire kingdom is criss-crossed with a wide variety of advantageous quarries and mines, fertile soil or unique spices and crops, old fortifications that can easily be restored to working order, glades and vistas of unusual beauty to inspire bards and attract travelers, and other such locales of interest to a young but ambitious kingdom. The wide variety found in these improvements means improvements to any single aspect of your kingdom will be rather minor, but harnessing these resources provides one of the most reliable and effective ways to improve your kingdom's overall power, prosperity and influence with only minimal effort required.
- Waterways (100CP)
Rivers are the lifeblood of a region, with many towns and cities specifically built along riverbanks for the advantages they provide. Fresh water is quite valuable, fishing is a comparatively fast and reliable source of food, and rivers often enable much more convenient travel both by boat and along the side of the river thanks to (relatively) level ground.
Although the Stolen Lands barely count as being part of the so-called 'River Kingdoms', they are nonetheless criss-crossed with a variety of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. With this perk, the advantages of such terrain features are greatly improved. Rivers are made wider and deeper to allow for larger boats to travel their winding lengths, and your territory will become home to a wide variety of smaller streams that improve access to water for both drinking and farmland. You'll be able to easily construct any major towns you like next to rivers to connect them to the rest of your kingdom, with each gaining the benefits of piers, ports or even a lighthouse. You could even use the water for defense - creating moats around your cities or
heavily defended bridges across rivers that are otherwise hard to cross will not be a challenge for your people.
Last edited:
Trek
The Ascendant
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You are missing quite a few free perks in this and the last build is that by design?
Other than that it looks pretty solid, there is some variability for the last 200 cp after unformed and esoteric gardner. Bountiful gives natural bounty whereas Enchanting Wilderness gives a more magical side of that.
The Waterways perk is actually quite nice as it would be quite a task to create rivers equalling it in the territory but at the same time it can be done, perhaps the only other thing you cant get anywhere else is something like Pathfinder Paradise, but for that you would need the Enchanting Wilderness. This means either you can have Bounditful and Waterways or if you want a more magical side to this you may want to go with Enchanting Wilderness and something else.
Still if you want mcs lands to remain low magic then this is also a good way to ensure that. So both paths have their benefits and downsides.
Imperator Pax
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The freebies thats purely space saving I went and grabbed some stuff from the document, and some of it came out of my open word file.
Yeah, waterways its a massive boon in terms of mobility which means movement through the whole Shrike River network that dominates the Narlmarches and Kamelands.
Video on the River Kingdom
Imperator Pax
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Pathfinder: Lore Video Share
Just throwing this here, the Mythkeeper has done an hour (+) regional deep dive on the River Kingdoms. I haven't sat down and watched it yet, but as far as Pathfinder lore goes I figure this will be more helpful than useful, than just saying I read X splat book from Paizo (especially since there are a number of second edition books, particularly from the Kingmaker tenth anniversary that I need or would like to read)
Desnus 4712 AR
Imperator Pax
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Desnus 4712 AR
The boat ride home had been simple, absurdly so in the face of everything. The Gudrin had carried them swiftly home to the Tuskwater and to the shores of Shrikewall's lake town... and that dream like voyage, or a brief 'quick travel' which turned into the quagmire explaining to everyone who hadn't been there.
It wasn't really possible to remember what Shyka the many looked like. The Eldest changed appearances all which were equally true to their existence. Vesper's Rapier was the Eldest's sword... because Vesper was Shyka... except wasn't Shyka... because...
... Amiri threw threw up her hands and grunted in exasperation as she tried to wrap her head around it... and then quit. Then she decided that she wanted no part in the first world's madness, or that of their native gods. Eranex the Dragoness was fine, and perfectly relatable but for Amiri things were getting too confusing.
The followers of the other, the missing Eldest had been dispatched. Though, that did raise questions about their patron... but Count Ranalc had been missing by at least as late as the 3rd century by Aroden Reckoning.... which of course raised many questions... if not earlier.... which again was way too long for Amiri to concern herself with. She was more concerned with the effects it had had on the baron not the missing god.
Ranalc had been potentially missing for four and a half thousand years... so... certainly who knew what that meant... and of course as had been brought up by Jubilost, "Ranalc's favored weapon was a rapier. Is I suppose," He spared a glance to the inquisitor. There was also the fact that the missing eldest, inspite of his long absence his clerics still drew the ability to cast spells, as Jaethal could firmly attest... and truthfully the inquisitor wasn't sad to see the silver dragon depart... but it still left them with the question of the other missing silver dragon... and she suspected that the baron would want to mount an expedition to locate the dragon sooner rather than later.
... though at least they were waiting until they had fully recovered. Jaethal was unsure of what manner of boon that the many handed Eldest had laid on the baron, but the truth was that they had still needed to withdraw back to the capital... and of course their return meant contending with the usual business of the barony, and the realm... and of course naturally explaining, as they were doing now, what had happened in the east.
"In addition to the matter of Amvarean's disappearance, and lack of response to Eranex's call for aid, that will need to be investigated. It seems unlikely that Eranex's sire will return to the lake, and Eranex herself did not specify when she might return, but all the same the Lake is a part of the realm. It would be I think prudent to settle a small community on the lakeshore, but for the time being the road from Nettle's crossing to Varnhold takes priority."
The swirling animated sands now stretched into deep gray peaks of the tors of levenies surrounding on three sides the perfect cerulean blue of the lake's representation. Among other features were small occasional bands of travelers. Caravans of and tribes... a mix of merchants and migrants. They ranged from a band of the kellid bonegrass tribe encountered coming south, the 'white stallions' a horse riding tribe of iobarians south of the little sellen, to a procession of Keleshite merchants making their way to restov, to still other varieties of the races of men from east, west, north and south.
The shrike cascades were only one waterfall that made going upstream directly to Restov impossible by boat. Further north still was a series of falls thus a direct river route could not exist. Instead with the East Sellen still closed to traffic, and the Shrike cascades and crooked falls stopping the river the road to Olegton and its spur that joined the south rostlandic road was the quickest overland route from the rivers.
That had brought traders and the people who followed them. This had become the normal procession of the summer approach. Merchants came, and went. With the East Sellen closed to them Mivon had reason to send people up river, and overland to directly commune with their more northern brethren who had chosen to remain in the homeland after the conquest.
Truthfully Eire suspected that the 'Houses', as in Houses in Exile, had in part come to see how much of a mercenary trade might be needed even though the troll situation had been resolved. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that the situation in the Drelev demesne remained tense. It also wasn't as if Mivon wasn't their own southern neighbor coming to call again as summer approached.
Jaethal's native Kyonin had once stretched far beyond its present borders... admittedly though they shared a name, and the elves were long lived it was hard to really consider them the same political entity... rather that modern Kyonin, and the old empire, shared the name and demographic. Even though they weren't 'really' apart of the 'River Kingdoms' proper they were bound to all by their connection on the great network of waterways that comprised the Sellen.
They had survived another year as a recognized realm in the river kingdoms. Even Jaethal agreed that was something to celebrate, even if there was only so much that as an undead elf that she could derive pleasure from.
--
The boat ride down the tuskwater, to Candlemere had allowed them to visit the now active Longtails, but their destination was further up river, and around the bend in the Murque. Hereford, and specifically the Elven keep. The cleric of Findeladlara, the Elven goddess of architecture, the 'guiding hand' had surely had a temple here... at least a shrine... but there was little that remained and if one were to be honest not even those most recent miscreants had been the ones to deface it.
Nothing remained, and if a new temple was to be built, well there were going to need to be more elves. The humans who had been settled at Hereford had erected a church of Iomedae. Hereford was many things, but it was not Shrikewall in miniature. There were broad similarities on the surface, but both being built utilizing high ground and ancient ruins did not copies make.
In the time sense he had last visited the industrious settlers had cleared enough to allow access to an alpine lake within a mile of the main course of descent of the murque, with some further dredging they might even be able to make taking a boat directly to the lake. That also gave them access to the the elven gate nearby as well.
For today though there was an important part of interior work to be done within the old elven outpost, a bit of further restoration. It was true that by last year all the debris had been cleared, and now new roofs were capping the towers. It would have been simpler to built gate house in the large gap but instead the painstaking work to repair the thin walls to elven specifications had followed.
That meant the restoration of the pre earth fall habit of interior glass, and also the beds of largely decorative plants... it seemed very unlikely that whatever however the ancient elves had lived they had been able to grow major grain stocks indoors in such confines. It was possible that things like strawberries and asparagus had been grown but Eire doubted that on aesthetic reasons. This was in technical definition a fortified residence, it had been a castle, it had a keep, it had walls, but it was not some sprawling crusader fortification. It was the border, or a watch on a trade route perhaps, but even at its peak even as they continued to dig, and plough and clear land he doubted they would ever find evidence it had been more than a border outpost's footprint of a time or a kingdom before the starstone had fallen.
Hereford was not Shrikewall in miniature and nor did he want it to be. Hereford was positioned at a higher elevation than Shrikewall. It did sit on as useful of trade routes in the modern era. It wasn't going to enjoy the same kind of commercial or agricultural productivity. Eire recognized that even as he nestled the small seedlings into their raised beds. The dreams that earth was out there, were somewhat dimmed by the knowledge that they were even now engaged in the greatest tragedy of the the 20th century, the one that would lead to all the others.
--
Travel times were improving now that routes were charted, boats were available, and there were at least the beginnings of a common road system. Eire had been forced to turn his attention away from the further proposed work on the western frontier, that was to say the restoration of the Bronzeshield fortress, because Jaethal was a towering font of rage as she came through the door. This was supremely unusual for Jaethal and immediately alarmed her wizard retainer Bartholomew Delgado, as well as Linzi.... even more so as the undead tossed a battered looking half elf to the floor in front of him.
Eire made a pointed gesture of looking at the half elf, which somewhat lost its... its intended effect as Shaoyu immediately mimicked the gesture. Seeing their expressions the half elf nodded slightly, "If you would allow me to explain, let me speak I can explain everything."
"I do hope so Half blood." Jaethal had her hand on her scythe with emphasis, and turned to the members of the council present. "Have I told you the sad story of my death? It is sad most of all because I do not remember how my life ended. I wandered, exhausted, through the wastelands beyond the borders of Kyonin, until I could barely see my path. I stopped to rest, or perhaps I lost consciousness... When I came to my senses, I heard the call of my goddess, returning me from the dead."
"That's terrible... but I don't see what this has to do with this whelp." Harrim grunted looking at the dishevelved half elf. The dwarf clearly didn't appreciate the interruption to his investment in the pet project of restoration of the dwarven fortress.
"I am afraid," Eire started quicksilver eyes narrowed in a calculating gesture, "That this does involve you Harrim. This traveler is an inquisitor of the lady of the graves. You draw that knife and I will burn your soul to ash and ruin." He snarled in blast of draconic malice and the half elf sensibly moved his hand away from the enchanted dagger.
The threat prompted Shaoyu to shift her weight and put her hand on her longsword... and she wasn't' the only one, Mouri as well as a handful of clerics from different faiths followed suit.
"Oh, well that explains it then," Harrim shuffled his bulk around the table. "Professional grudge then, Inquisitors from rival faiths. Guess that's why you stuck me with the job." He grumbled, but for all the grumbling Harrim had his flail in his hand as he moved around the table insuring that if Enneo did try something 'smart' he'd be getting Groetus's favored weapon somewhere unprotected in short order. "Alright boyo lets hear what you have to say for yourself?"
Enneo swallowed standing up, "Ah well its true I am an inquistor of blessed Pharasma, but I am also a travelling merchant." The attempt at an explanation was rewarded with skeptical looks all around.
"Should I go get Arsinoe?" She paused her voice hitting a higher squeak than even her normal tone, "Maybe I should get get Kaessi to come?" Linzi asked.
Truthfully he didn't wish to bring the church of Abadar into this, especially since Eire suspected that they would confirm that Enneo did engage in lawful commerce... and had probably paid his taxes to do business in the market square... which wasn't going to do anything to to Jaethal's temper.
"Let us begin with the obvious, Jaethal, Half blood or not, this one is much too young to have had anything to do with your mortal end. I suspect more likely someone," Most likely someone of comparable social status and certainly in martial stature, unless Jaethal had become dramatically stronger after departing the elven realm, "in Kyonin deemed your exile too light a punishment and Pharasma's church takes umbrage with your reanimation." The look on Enneo's face somewhat confirmed where he stood... not that the fanatic wasn't appalled by Jaethal's past crimes in Kyonin, but Jaethal was centuries old, an elven noble woman and powerful member of Kynonin's court while Enneo had only been born around the time of her exile. "Yes, Linzi, go find Kaessi and see if she knows if any clerics of Pharasma are with the Orsirion trade mission..." He really didn't want to rely on the Kyonin delegation, "I need one of them to swear to take responsibility for this one." ... and hopefully they would make this problem go away.
--
Notes: This is more or less the conclusion of Spring 4712, and addresses Jaethal's companion plotline, specifically because I never really got the Enneo plot... from the way I remember the game, and I could be misremembering It didn't seem like Enneo could have been Jaethal's original murderer. And here, it makes more sense that Jaethal was killed by some rival elf from back when, and thats what I'm going with, but we will be opening varnhold vanishing with summer 4712. [That also goes to Jaethal is an elf and the problem of time span / her life time]
As it currently sits about ten to twelve thousand words have been done for Varnhold vanishing, thats not in a finalized publishing format, and only really covers part of Sarenith 4712. The CP expenditure dubbed Alternate A is probably the more likely one to be used, putting off fey realm for when the transition, or after, the realm is actually a kingdom with a king. Obviously though as mentioned Summer will begin and start the Varnhold Vanishing Arc.
I may do minor revisions to this, but it does follow on the previous segment with the implied planting of mana flowers at the elven keep at Hereford in the western narlmarches
The boat ride home had been simple, absurdly so in the face of everything. The Gudrin had carried them swiftly home to the Tuskwater and to the shores of Shrikewall's lake town... and that dream like voyage, or a brief 'quick travel' which turned into the quagmire explaining to everyone who hadn't been there.
It wasn't really possible to remember what Shyka the many looked like. The Eldest changed appearances all which were equally true to their existence. Vesper's Rapier was the Eldest's sword... because Vesper was Shyka... except wasn't Shyka... because...
... Amiri threw threw up her hands and grunted in exasperation as she tried to wrap her head around it... and then quit. Then she decided that she wanted no part in the first world's madness, or that of their native gods. Eranex the Dragoness was fine, and perfectly relatable but for Amiri things were getting too confusing.
The followers of the other, the missing Eldest had been dispatched. Though, that did raise questions about their patron... but Count Ranalc had been missing by at least as late as the 3rd century by Aroden Reckoning.... which of course raised many questions... if not earlier.... which again was way too long for Amiri to concern herself with. She was more concerned with the effects it had had on the baron not the missing god.
Ranalc had been potentially missing for four and a half thousand years... so... certainly who knew what that meant... and of course as had been brought up by Jubilost, "Ranalc's favored weapon was a rapier. Is I suppose," He spared a glance to the inquisitor. There was also the fact that the missing eldest, inspite of his long absence his clerics still drew the ability to cast spells, as Jaethal could firmly attest... and truthfully the inquisitor wasn't sad to see the silver dragon depart... but it still left them with the question of the other missing silver dragon... and she suspected that the baron would want to mount an expedition to locate the dragon sooner rather than later.
... though at least they were waiting until they had fully recovered. Jaethal was unsure of what manner of boon that the many handed Eldest had laid on the baron, but the truth was that they had still needed to withdraw back to the capital... and of course their return meant contending with the usual business of the barony, and the realm... and of course naturally explaining, as they were doing now, what had happened in the east.
"In addition to the matter of Amvarean's disappearance, and lack of response to Eranex's call for aid, that will need to be investigated. It seems unlikely that Eranex's sire will return to the lake, and Eranex herself did not specify when she might return, but all the same the Lake is a part of the realm. It would be I think prudent to settle a small community on the lakeshore, but for the time being the road from Nettle's crossing to Varnhold takes priority."
The swirling animated sands now stretched into deep gray peaks of the tors of levenies surrounding on three sides the perfect cerulean blue of the lake's representation. Among other features were small occasional bands of travelers. Caravans of and tribes... a mix of merchants and migrants. They ranged from a band of the kellid bonegrass tribe encountered coming south, the 'white stallions' a horse riding tribe of iobarians south of the little sellen, to a procession of Keleshite merchants making their way to restov, to still other varieties of the races of men from east, west, north and south.
The shrike cascades were only one waterfall that made going upstream directly to Restov impossible by boat. Further north still was a series of falls thus a direct river route could not exist. Instead with the East Sellen still closed to traffic, and the Shrike cascades and crooked falls stopping the river the road to Olegton and its spur that joined the south rostlandic road was the quickest overland route from the rivers.
That had brought traders and the people who followed them. This had become the normal procession of the summer approach. Merchants came, and went. With the East Sellen closed to them Mivon had reason to send people up river, and overland to directly commune with their more northern brethren who had chosen to remain in the homeland after the conquest.
Truthfully Eire suspected that the 'Houses', as in Houses in Exile, had in part come to see how much of a mercenary trade might be needed even though the troll situation had been resolved. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that the situation in the Drelev demesne remained tense. It also wasn't as if Mivon wasn't their own southern neighbor coming to call again as summer approached.
Jaethal's native Kyonin had once stretched far beyond its present borders... admittedly though they shared a name, and the elves were long lived it was hard to really consider them the same political entity... rather that modern Kyonin, and the old empire, shared the name and demographic. Even though they weren't 'really' apart of the 'River Kingdoms' proper they were bound to all by their connection on the great network of waterways that comprised the Sellen.
They had survived another year as a recognized realm in the river kingdoms. Even Jaethal agreed that was something to celebrate, even if there was only so much that as an undead elf that she could derive pleasure from.
--
The boat ride down the tuskwater, to Candlemere had allowed them to visit the now active Longtails, but their destination was further up river, and around the bend in the Murque. Hereford, and specifically the Elven keep. The cleric of Findeladlara, the Elven goddess of architecture, the 'guiding hand' had surely had a temple here... at least a shrine... but there was little that remained and if one were to be honest not even those most recent miscreants had been the ones to deface it.
Nothing remained, and if a new temple was to be built, well there were going to need to be more elves. The humans who had been settled at Hereford had erected a church of Iomedae. Hereford was many things, but it was not Shrikewall in miniature. There were broad similarities on the surface, but both being built utilizing high ground and ancient ruins did not copies make.
In the time sense he had last visited the industrious settlers had cleared enough to allow access to an alpine lake within a mile of the main course of descent of the murque, with some further dredging they might even be able to make taking a boat directly to the lake. That also gave them access to the the elven gate nearby as well.
For today though there was an important part of interior work to be done within the old elven outpost, a bit of further restoration. It was true that by last year all the debris had been cleared, and now new roofs were capping the towers. It would have been simpler to built gate house in the large gap but instead the painstaking work to repair the thin walls to elven specifications had followed.
That meant the restoration of the pre earth fall habit of interior glass, and also the beds of largely decorative plants... it seemed very unlikely that whatever however the ancient elves had lived they had been able to grow major grain stocks indoors in such confines. It was possible that things like strawberries and asparagus had been grown but Eire doubted that on aesthetic reasons. This was in technical definition a fortified residence, it had been a castle, it had a keep, it had walls, but it was not some sprawling crusader fortification. It was the border, or a watch on a trade route perhaps, but even at its peak even as they continued to dig, and plough and clear land he doubted they would ever find evidence it had been more than a border outpost's footprint of a time or a kingdom before the starstone had fallen.
Hereford was not Shrikewall in miniature and nor did he want it to be. Hereford was positioned at a higher elevation than Shrikewall. It did sit on as useful of trade routes in the modern era. It wasn't going to enjoy the same kind of commercial or agricultural productivity. Eire recognized that even as he nestled the small seedlings into their raised beds. The dreams that earth was out there, were somewhat dimmed by the knowledge that they were even now engaged in the greatest tragedy of the the 20th century, the one that would lead to all the others.
--
Travel times were improving now that routes were charted, boats were available, and there were at least the beginnings of a common road system. Eire had been forced to turn his attention away from the further proposed work on the western frontier, that was to say the restoration of the Bronzeshield fortress, because Jaethal was a towering font of rage as she came through the door. This was supremely unusual for Jaethal and immediately alarmed her wizard retainer Bartholomew Delgado, as well as Linzi.... even more so as the undead tossed a battered looking half elf to the floor in front of him.
Eire made a pointed gesture of looking at the half elf, which somewhat lost its... its intended effect as Shaoyu immediately mimicked the gesture. Seeing their expressions the half elf nodded slightly, "If you would allow me to explain, let me speak I can explain everything."
"I do hope so Half blood." Jaethal had her hand on her scythe with emphasis, and turned to the members of the council present. "Have I told you the sad story of my death? It is sad most of all because I do not remember how my life ended. I wandered, exhausted, through the wastelands beyond the borders of Kyonin, until I could barely see my path. I stopped to rest, or perhaps I lost consciousness... When I came to my senses, I heard the call of my goddess, returning me from the dead."
"That's terrible... but I don't see what this has to do with this whelp." Harrim grunted looking at the dishevelved half elf. The dwarf clearly didn't appreciate the interruption to his investment in the pet project of restoration of the dwarven fortress.
"I am afraid," Eire started quicksilver eyes narrowed in a calculating gesture, "That this does involve you Harrim. This traveler is an inquisitor of the lady of the graves. You draw that knife and I will burn your soul to ash and ruin." He snarled in blast of draconic malice and the half elf sensibly moved his hand away from the enchanted dagger.
The threat prompted Shaoyu to shift her weight and put her hand on her longsword... and she wasn't' the only one, Mouri as well as a handful of clerics from different faiths followed suit.
"Oh, well that explains it then," Harrim shuffled his bulk around the table. "Professional grudge then, Inquisitors from rival faiths. Guess that's why you stuck me with the job." He grumbled, but for all the grumbling Harrim had his flail in his hand as he moved around the table insuring that if Enneo did try something 'smart' he'd be getting Groetus's favored weapon somewhere unprotected in short order. "Alright boyo lets hear what you have to say for yourself?"
Enneo swallowed standing up, "Ah well its true I am an inquistor of blessed Pharasma, but I am also a travelling merchant." The attempt at an explanation was rewarded with skeptical looks all around.
"Should I go get Arsinoe?" She paused her voice hitting a higher squeak than even her normal tone, "Maybe I should get get Kaessi to come?" Linzi asked.
Truthfully he didn't wish to bring the church of Abadar into this, especially since Eire suspected that they would confirm that Enneo did engage in lawful commerce... and had probably paid his taxes to do business in the market square... which wasn't going to do anything to to Jaethal's temper.
"Let us begin with the obvious, Jaethal, Half blood or not, this one is much too young to have had anything to do with your mortal end. I suspect more likely someone," Most likely someone of comparable social status and certainly in martial stature, unless Jaethal had become dramatically stronger after departing the elven realm, "in Kyonin deemed your exile too light a punishment and Pharasma's church takes umbrage with your reanimation." The look on Enneo's face somewhat confirmed where he stood... not that the fanatic wasn't appalled by Jaethal's past crimes in Kyonin, but Jaethal was centuries old, an elven noble woman and powerful member of Kynonin's court while Enneo had only been born around the time of her exile. "Yes, Linzi, go find Kaessi and see if she knows if any clerics of Pharasma are with the Orsirion trade mission..." He really didn't want to rely on the Kyonin delegation, "I need one of them to swear to take responsibility for this one." ... and hopefully they would make this problem go away.
--
Notes: This is more or less the conclusion of Spring 4712, and addresses Jaethal's companion plotline, specifically because I never really got the Enneo plot... from the way I remember the game, and I could be misremembering It didn't seem like Enneo could have been Jaethal's original murderer. And here, it makes more sense that Jaethal was killed by some rival elf from back when, and thats what I'm going with, but we will be opening varnhold vanishing with summer 4712. [That also goes to Jaethal is an elf and the problem of time span / her life time]
As it currently sits about ten to twelve thousand words have been done for Varnhold vanishing, thats not in a finalized publishing format, and only really covers part of Sarenith 4712. The CP expenditure dubbed Alternate A is probably the more likely one to be used, putting off fey realm for when the transition, or after, the realm is actually a kingdom with a king. Obviously though as mentioned Summer will begin and start the Varnhold Vanishing Arc.
I may do minor revisions to this, but it does follow on the previous segment with the implied planting of mana flowers at the elven keep at Hereford in the western narlmarches
Arc 3 The Varnhold Vanishing Sarenith 4712
Imperator Pax
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Arc 3 The Varnhold Vanishing
Sarenith 4712Desnus had come to its end without much more excitement, and he would have liked if it had stayed that way. There was work to be done. Sarenith was traditionally the month of the first harvest, the summer harvest, while in two months the larger wheat harvest would come in over the course of Arodus as they made preparations for the coming winter.
High summer had arrived, and Eire supposed that it had been too much to hope for for a quiet season. It was the busiest part of the calendar year, and thus being informed Jamandi Aldori had sent a letter was ... a headache before he had even had time to reach the hall. It wasn't as if he absolutely needed to oversee construction efforts, the truth was there was enough construction going on in Shrikewall that he couldn't possibly have been everywhere to begin with.
"Greetings from Restov and congratulations on your triumphs. I hope that we are entering a time in which these lands will be called stolen only in history texts! Yet it would seem that for all your victories, your fellow colonists to the east have met with trouble. The settlers of Varnhold are not responding to messengers – and indeed, some envoys have gone missing as well. You may have noticed this on your own, but as the political climate here in Restov grows more turbulent, we find ourselves in creasingly limitted in the amount of aid we can send. Certainly, we cannot send troops south to Varnhold to investigate without our overly watchful lords to the north misinterrpeting the act. And so it falls to you, I fear, to investigate the Varnhold myster. For if something dire has befallen the colony you must realize that your own could be next!
Trusting in your discretion and experience,
Jamandi Aldori – Swordlord of Restov."
Trusting in your discretion and experience,
Jamandi Aldori – Swordlord of Restov."
The note was both short... and at the same time longer more formal, more highhanded, more grating than it needed to be. "Is it accurate?" He asked, "Have we lost contact with Varnhold?" It was a silly question to ask. Even outlined in Jamandi's letter was the issue at hand.
Maegar Varn had settled much of the Varnling Host onto lands of his western most territories sheltered by the Tors, and watered by the Kiravoy river. Those were predominantly fighters, and warriors. There was no significant volume of wizards, no excess membership of clerics. It was not a burgeoning magocracy. Communication depended on couriers largely travelling on if they were lucky dirt path through the wilderness. It took probably a rider a week to reach Varnhold and that was with the benefit of a road, and then another to get back unless they'd been entrusted with magic like word of sending items... and frankly Restov might have been a free city but it wasn't especially magical either.
A rider, the first or second messengers could easily be waylaid by common bandits or other normal threats... so initial alarm might not raise.. A messenger being late similarly wasn't a particular immediate concern of worry. They could be late in either direction by a few days. This had been the norm for sending messengers from Olegton to Restov, or messengers from Restov making their way down from Olegton... but it had not been the way Olegton, or the Temple of the Elk, Hereford, or Tatzlford communicated important affairs to Shrikewall that was accomplished by magic, or for less critical messages a trip down the Thorn, Shrike or Skunk rivers.
Even though in Oleg's case that meant sending a rider to Akiros's fief to send a man down river. Less pressing messages still came overland, but the waterways had become the principle arties of communication and trade. That was even when accounting for the road that they had made to link Shrikewall from the River Crossing, the joining of Thorn, and Shrike, to the Old Scyamore, now to the gold mines and up to Olegton that then appended the South Rostland road... and that road was useful but it was predominantly for trade that passed from the Tuskwater up and out to Brevoy.
Settlements could communicate important messages to the baronial seat, where no such apparatus existed for communicating with the Free City of Restov, or with the Varnhold. While Eire was used to travelling to other parts of the domain, Silverstep, or before that in the west, had'd become used to simply using magic to communicate with the towns of the Narhold.
Still if there was some sort of crisis then even if there had been a magical infrastructure to facilitate communication then perhaps it had been the most obvious point of attack... but more likely given the Varnling Host's composition that simply hadn't been a priority for Maegar not with more than a thousand men who needed to be settled onto their own farm plots and who knew what other responsibilities that went along with it.
Suffice to say there had been no word from Varnhold as high summer approached, and Jamandi's letter was the first indication that they might need to be concerned about it, even if it came off as a little shrill, and rather obnoxious.... but it didn't meant that Jamandi might not have a point.
If it wasn't one thing it was another.
Maegar had been born into a brevic noble house, but had not been in the line of successions, his older brothers would have had to predecease him, and without heirs and given Androth Varn was alive it seemed a doubly unlikely situation. That didn't absolutely discount trouble in House Varn's issian homeland, but it was unlikely. Iobaria's native perils were a much more likely explanation, the centaurs, or the nomadic horse riders , attacks by some race of monstrous humanoids could all have explained a short lapse in communication. Disease might as well... but a completely lapse enough to warrant Jamandi's reaching out seemed extreme.
"Oh, first Drelev against Hargulka, and then we got to meet Eranex, what could Lord Maegar have found? What challenge waited him?" Linzi's statement was accompanied by the excited waving of the long tail of her quill moving from the air. "Its a brand new adventure."
She was probably right, but the truth was Eire had a suspicion that his warning about cyclops hadn't been heeded.
--
The truth was that in the normal day to day administration Kassil Aldori was simply one more member of the court... and Eire did hope that the young half orc was learning something about the business of administering a realm, but truth was the young swordlord was still unpolished in the ways of war... and dueling skills would only have taken him so far. It had proven safer to keep him close at hand... and as had become the case a matter of course just to send him to Restov to find out what was going on the Free City.
He had useful insights. The ongoing tensions between Issia, and Rostland, the north and south of the country had been building ever since the disappearance of House Rogarvaria and the Varnhold had been a place that Jamandi had apparently hoped might prove fertile ground for a school of dueling.
What he couldn't tell them was anything about any potential enemies that Maegar might have had, or threats that might have posed a challenge. Nothing that stood out. The centaurs were a potential threat of course, and had always been 'unruly' and the iobarian tribes had already been discussed especially given the broader talk of kellid and iobarian tribes flocking to some new Tiger Lord banner.
Something for later. Eire found himself nodding, "Once we will have to divide our labor. Jaethal I would have you remain here," For among other reasons that he wanted to avoid any issues with Pharasma's church. He hoped to maintain good ties with the Orsirion trading delegation, their cotton was useful for making finished clothing and other goods... but also just to avoid unnecessary conflict. That, and Jaethal was a reserve against other threats, particularly from the west. Valerie, and Kesten would remain in the capital. Jhod hoped to speak to the Erastilian high priest of Restov but Ezvanki was visiting the temple of hte Elk so hopefully the old priests could find out other news. Assuming of course there was other news.
That geographic distinction was another matter. It summer now, time to take in the harvest, time to sheer sheep. It was also a key point in the distinction between baronial farms and their Erastilian, traditional, counterparts largely on the basis of crop rotation and better infrastructure facilitating all year around activity. This year, or what should have been this year was with the aid of giantish labor and cratfsmen were the expansion of that infrastructure. It was the sort of change that in the long run would further distinguish the old brevic timber construction, and sod houses further from the baronial long house and log cabin houses. Particularly as more and more bricks became available for baronial construction projects, and masonry stone allowed larger homes and workplaces to be heated from central hearths, and furnaces.
It was the sort of focus Eire would have preferred to watch, but his attention would need to pivot eastward, and up into the Varnhold pass, "Do we know how complete the road is?"
"No your grace, our own effort haven't reached border yet either."
... and there was no telling how far along Maegar's portion of the road was, but in their own defense they had needed to cross rivers, and to link to the old Taldan road of Sorrowflow that had dragged out construction efforts, even if it had made sourcing paving stones much easier in the long run, and thus diminished the chances of washouts.
"I will take a party to Davik's crossing and on to Davik's work camp," The undead was making good progress, more impressive really than had been expected, but he needed to connect a number of known, but unpeopled locations in addition to the border, "and make our way along the Crooked river from there and into the hills of Nomen," That was the geographic distinction made, it was the northern portion of of Maegar's realm, before they gave way to great iobarian steppe that was the Dunsward. "We will move to investigate Varnhold, and send word back." Eire was relatively sure what was likely to be found.
He counted off the young hell knight, Svetlana's sister, and directed them to assemble a small force of armsmen and placed them under Amiri's direction for if they needed to reinforce or otherwise secure the settlement.
"So its definitely something bad then?" Kressel asked.
"That is our working assumption." He agreed casually. He'd be leaving Akiros, Kundal, Octavia, and Regongar to watch the western frontier in broad zones but they were also supposed to try and piece together what was going on with the nomadic kellid tribes and their migration.
Ordinarily he wouldn't have taken the Order of The torrent's small collection of Armingers along with the young knight away from the capital, but he suspected it was probably best to bring Mouri as a reserve of conventional martial acumen... especially since she had volunteered in the face of an entire 'kingdom' disappearing.
The dunsward was a vast expanse, and... "Your grace?"
"If no immediate culprit seems apparent, if we have no clear answer, I am going to attempt to locate the silver dragon Eranex spoke of, or at least indication of what became of Amvarean." Whether that would actually yield answers, he didn't know about it would take them south into the Tors of Levenies... but that was all he was going to commit to in public planning thus far... they hadn't even reached Varnhold yet.
--
Notes: Though obviously we haven't gotten there yet, I do want to go ahead and address the issue of the World Wound / Wrath of the Righteous event that will be going on in somewhat the background. I am counting the 5th Mendevian Crusade as taking place from Arodus 4713 to its conclusion in 4718 with the ritual to seal the worldwound. That will largely be on the background and as a facet of kingdom building less than running through the events of the game or the AP proper, though Galfrey will make an appearance in summer of 4713, as will potentially others.
However as it sits, I'm sitll outlying the general course of the roughly five year long fifth crusade, and the knock on effects of demon attacks in Numeria that are referenced in the AP as a byline (along with implied other attacks) but demonic incursions into numeria down the sellen are the ones we care about in this time frame.
Additionally I bit the bullet, and bought the thirty bucks companion PDF its a 130 pages, so I still think its expensive for digital content, frankly for that price I think it should be larger, (and that all companions should have the full write ups rather than relegating Jaethal and Harrim for example to 'secondary companions') but it is other than the price point not a bad book. There are some things I'm going to use from it, and from the second edition kingmaker book, but not necessarily one for one.
Sarenith 4712
Imperator Pax
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Sarenith 4712
Davik Nettle closed the simple shrine up and locked the small model city behind little wire gates. They'd had a lot of work to do today. Good honest work. Abadar be praised.
He didn't sweat any more. That was certainly a plus to being one of the undead... the ability to meld into bodies of water was ... well useful ish. Davik Nettle had never been a particularly strong swimmer even as a young man, so it was little ironic that in undeath he was so much more capable in the water. In life he'd been somewhat religious, at least to Abadar in hopes of getting a fair shake, and he'd mostly lived according to the tenents of the keeper of the keys... but he wasn't going to pretend he'd lived perfectly
Certainly he hadn't been an exemplar of feudal loyalty. Courts were for kings, and the dragon had two heads, and frankly House Rogavaria hadn't done much for him... and the Issian bastards sitting the throne these days had done even less. So he'd moved south out of the lands of House Garess when it'd come time to look at retiring and he'd built his simple bridge...
the original bridge had been wrecked when the Stag Lord had killed him, and the new bridge wasn't quite so simple. Miss... Lady Kressel, probably more appropriate to call her that, hadn't objected to him establishing a small devotional shrine to Abadar... it was funny how undeath made one a bit more keen on staying on the gods goodside.
... and quite frankly given the pace of the work, and what all that they'd been able to manage this past month it probably paid dividends to thank Abadar, Water and stone were easier to work with. The waterways and the earth just seemed to be turning civilized. A blessing to be sure.
--
He folded the missive that had been coming by merchant word of mouth. It wasn't the sort of important news that had warranted its own courier, just passing along to the next tradesman bound for Shrikewall willing to carry it.
It was utterly unlikely to have been the culprit but the only news remotely close to the border, was that apparently there had been some goblin troubles of late. The southern brevic village of Nivatka's crossing had been able to deal with it without even needing to petition for aid from Brevoy, and the Barghest had been killed a few weeks ago before the disappearance of Varnhold.
The River Crossing was only about ten miles north east of Shrikewall's shores on the Tuskwater, and probably half that south of the Scyamore. So even as they spoke and horses pulled the transport barges along one side of the Shrike in preparation for heading north for the roughly twenty or thirty miles to Kressel's fief he was prepared for the kobolds already here though.
The River Crossing was not a town per se, but it might one day. It wasn't really a fortification. It might one day be some kind of burgh or another sort like that, but for the most part it was more like a way station for travel overland, and the boats passing the rivers. The road that ran along the Shrike crossed the river and then continued into the hills to the Old Scyamore, and then continued north to Oleg's.
They would part with Kassil here. Taking the Shrike as it flowed down from the north until they reached Kressel's domain. This though, was the juncture by which traders who had come up the Sellen moved on to go north overland to the South Rostlandic road and brevoy beyond... it was filled with overland traffic, crawling with merchants relative to what it had been last year, and certainly the year before... in no small part because Hooktongue slough remained closed. The longer Hooktongue remained closed the more incentive he had to expand the road north to Oleg's.
Even if the Hooktongue were to reopen tomorrow and Hannis Drelev removed his head from his oh so noble posterior then there was still plenty of reason to keep expanding the road. A highway running through the old scyamore and the communities around the great tree made sense, because there were veins of previous metals, gold and silver that had been discovered by the ancient Taldan that were being put back into the use. Sootscales, and Mites also had access to coal, and iron in the south east especially, and thus this was a region to expand. It was what he would have preferred to have been focusing on, but a major portion of Feudalism was the role leadership played in providing for collective security.
... and so flew a banner bearing a starburst ringed crowned lion, longsword and orb.
Unlike with Shrikewall there were few indications of Brevic architecture. Heavy a-frame style timber structures took shape on the western banks of the Thorn river, and large stones had been excavated as well. Men had dug a foot down, moved the dirt into dugout frames hammered it down to build simple dykes, and used the natural clay beds to form shallow flows that were still deep enough that they could float low draft barges. The winches pulled up craft north of where the two rivers met and could be offloaded and put onto wagons. A baronial granary stood stocked with fodder for horses. This was completely unlike what one might find in the north. It still wasn't quite a fort though...
Another, still blunt, letter Restov, the Lord Mayor in this case though in agreement with the Swordlord's council, was quick, and all too ready to blame the problem on the Nomen Centaurs... but even if they weren't to blame the Free City was eager to have the problem addressed if possible... either by exterminating the Centuars or forging a peace the swordlords weren't picky. They were more interested in the results than the specifics at this point.
They had been able to confirm one of their own citizens Tomin Hanvaki, had travelled to Varnhold from Olegton for a friendly business venture and had not returned. Tomin's brother Edrist had also carried word that the northern border fort, or southern from the Brevoy perspective, Fort Serenko had been abandoned as well.
Eire was prepared to discount that as related. If Brevoy was loosing border forts surely that would have warranted a mention from Jamandi, but there was no point in ignoring it. Something to have Kassil Aldori inquire about when he visited his mother.
There was a slightly other sort of problem. Unfortunately in outlying his contingencies before they had departed Shrikewall, moving up the Shrike to the River crossing with the intention of continuing up to Kressel's fief at Davik's crossing the word had reached the sootscales, and the Mites, that they were going to visit a silver. For the mites it was mostly a matter of gemstones and such rather than fascination their Kobold neighbors had with dragons in general, but excited kobolds meant excited mites and vice versa that was just how old scyamore was.
That created for them something of a clamor to work through, even as Amiri attempted to shout the growing crowd into order. This was not Shrikewall direct access to the feudal overlord was a thing to capitalize and make good on, especially when they were beyond the boundaries of the capital where most meetings could be structured more formally.
Eire worked the spell to cast word of sending to Valerie back within said capital and at least apprise her of the word regarding Serenko's abandonment. The barghest's defeat, and and the disappearance of Hanvaki he added more as an afterthought even thought it was unlikely that Valerie would need to act on such information, but he included in the magical message for the sake of completeness.
"Now," He replied looking at the sootscales, "Yes to address your questions." They were simple questions. The kobolds were a dragon obsessed lot, and were eager for word about friendly dragons especially. There seemed to have been some confusion about if Eranex had returned, but he wasn't sure that the rumor she had wouldn't just resurface because some kobold hunting party might have missed the message and started the whole thing again.
Frankly he doubted Eranex's half sister Amvarean, even if they could find the silver dragon, in this outing would necessarily be as gregarious to the sootscales... but who could say... certainly Eranex had seemed to have been used to having hangers on.... and given that had taken the form of both faerie creatures and faerie dragons that had been of interest to the scyamore denizens... and also to the fae of the old beldame's village.
--
Notes: this is today's update due to extenuating circumstances [unrelated to my buying a switch or getting pokemon violet] the PJO jump's update may be pushed till next week, . I'm not sure where I sit on the current update schedule I need to check some other things.
This was part of a larger segment which I divided, and will probably post the second half friday but obviously part of this can clearly see the start in terms of impact on the realm of that divine shard being absorbed into perks for the realm even though its not as per the jump document instantaneous.
Davik Nettle closed the simple shrine up and locked the small model city behind little wire gates. They'd had a lot of work to do today. Good honest work. Abadar be praised.
He didn't sweat any more. That was certainly a plus to being one of the undead... the ability to meld into bodies of water was ... well useful ish. Davik Nettle had never been a particularly strong swimmer even as a young man, so it was little ironic that in undeath he was so much more capable in the water. In life he'd been somewhat religious, at least to Abadar in hopes of getting a fair shake, and he'd mostly lived according to the tenents of the keeper of the keys... but he wasn't going to pretend he'd lived perfectly
Certainly he hadn't been an exemplar of feudal loyalty. Courts were for kings, and the dragon had two heads, and frankly House Rogavaria hadn't done much for him... and the Issian bastards sitting the throne these days had done even less. So he'd moved south out of the lands of House Garess when it'd come time to look at retiring and he'd built his simple bridge...
the original bridge had been wrecked when the Stag Lord had killed him, and the new bridge wasn't quite so simple. Miss... Lady Kressel, probably more appropriate to call her that, hadn't objected to him establishing a small devotional shrine to Abadar... it was funny how undeath made one a bit more keen on staying on the gods goodside.
... and quite frankly given the pace of the work, and what all that they'd been able to manage this past month it probably paid dividends to thank Abadar, Water and stone were easier to work with. The waterways and the earth just seemed to be turning civilized. A blessing to be sure.
--
He folded the missive that had been coming by merchant word of mouth. It wasn't the sort of important news that had warranted its own courier, just passing along to the next tradesman bound for Shrikewall willing to carry it.
It was utterly unlikely to have been the culprit but the only news remotely close to the border, was that apparently there had been some goblin troubles of late. The southern brevic village of Nivatka's crossing had been able to deal with it without even needing to petition for aid from Brevoy, and the Barghest had been killed a few weeks ago before the disappearance of Varnhold.
The River Crossing was only about ten miles north east of Shrikewall's shores on the Tuskwater, and probably half that south of the Scyamore. So even as they spoke and horses pulled the transport barges along one side of the Shrike in preparation for heading north for the roughly twenty or thirty miles to Kressel's fief he was prepared for the kobolds already here though.
The River Crossing was not a town per se, but it might one day. It wasn't really a fortification. It might one day be some kind of burgh or another sort like that, but for the most part it was more like a way station for travel overland, and the boats passing the rivers. The road that ran along the Shrike crossed the river and then continued into the hills to the Old Scyamore, and then continued north to Oleg's.
They would part with Kassil here. Taking the Shrike as it flowed down from the north until they reached Kressel's domain. This though, was the juncture by which traders who had come up the Sellen moved on to go north overland to the South Rostlandic road and brevoy beyond... it was filled with overland traffic, crawling with merchants relative to what it had been last year, and certainly the year before... in no small part because Hooktongue slough remained closed. The longer Hooktongue remained closed the more incentive he had to expand the road north to Oleg's.
Even if the Hooktongue were to reopen tomorrow and Hannis Drelev removed his head from his oh so noble posterior then there was still plenty of reason to keep expanding the road. A highway running through the old scyamore and the communities around the great tree made sense, because there were veins of previous metals, gold and silver that had been discovered by the ancient Taldan that were being put back into the use. Sootscales, and Mites also had access to coal, and iron in the south east especially, and thus this was a region to expand. It was what he would have preferred to have been focusing on, but a major portion of Feudalism was the role leadership played in providing for collective security.
... and so flew a banner bearing a starburst ringed crowned lion, longsword and orb.
Unlike with Shrikewall there were few indications of Brevic architecture. Heavy a-frame style timber structures took shape on the western banks of the Thorn river, and large stones had been excavated as well. Men had dug a foot down, moved the dirt into dugout frames hammered it down to build simple dykes, and used the natural clay beds to form shallow flows that were still deep enough that they could float low draft barges. The winches pulled up craft north of where the two rivers met and could be offloaded and put onto wagons. A baronial granary stood stocked with fodder for horses. This was completely unlike what one might find in the north. It still wasn't quite a fort though...
Another, still blunt, letter Restov, the Lord Mayor in this case though in agreement with the Swordlord's council, was quick, and all too ready to blame the problem on the Nomen Centaurs... but even if they weren't to blame the Free City was eager to have the problem addressed if possible... either by exterminating the Centuars or forging a peace the swordlords weren't picky. They were more interested in the results than the specifics at this point.
They had been able to confirm one of their own citizens Tomin Hanvaki, had travelled to Varnhold from Olegton for a friendly business venture and had not returned. Tomin's brother Edrist had also carried word that the northern border fort, or southern from the Brevoy perspective, Fort Serenko had been abandoned as well.
Eire was prepared to discount that as related. If Brevoy was loosing border forts surely that would have warranted a mention from Jamandi, but there was no point in ignoring it. Something to have Kassil Aldori inquire about when he visited his mother.
There was a slightly other sort of problem. Unfortunately in outlying his contingencies before they had departed Shrikewall, moving up the Shrike to the River crossing with the intention of continuing up to Kressel's fief at Davik's crossing the word had reached the sootscales, and the Mites, that they were going to visit a silver. For the mites it was mostly a matter of gemstones and such rather than fascination their Kobold neighbors had with dragons in general, but excited kobolds meant excited mites and vice versa that was just how old scyamore was.
That created for them something of a clamor to work through, even as Amiri attempted to shout the growing crowd into order. This was not Shrikewall direct access to the feudal overlord was a thing to capitalize and make good on, especially when they were beyond the boundaries of the capital where most meetings could be structured more formally.
Eire worked the spell to cast word of sending to Valerie back within said capital and at least apprise her of the word regarding Serenko's abandonment. The barghest's defeat, and and the disappearance of Hanvaki he added more as an afterthought even thought it was unlikely that Valerie would need to act on such information, but he included in the magical message for the sake of completeness.
"Now," He replied looking at the sootscales, "Yes to address your questions." They were simple questions. The kobolds were a dragon obsessed lot, and were eager for word about friendly dragons especially. There seemed to have been some confusion about if Eranex had returned, but he wasn't sure that the rumor she had wouldn't just resurface because some kobold hunting party might have missed the message and started the whole thing again.
Frankly he doubted Eranex's half sister Amvarean, even if they could find the silver dragon, in this outing would necessarily be as gregarious to the sootscales... but who could say... certainly Eranex had seemed to have been used to having hangers on.... and given that had taken the form of both faerie creatures and faerie dragons that had been of interest to the scyamore denizens... and also to the fae of the old beldame's village.
--
Notes: this is today's update due to extenuating circumstances [unrelated to my buying a switch or getting pokemon violet] the PJO jump's update may be pushed till next week, . I'm not sure where I sit on the current update schedule I need to check some other things.
This was part of a larger segment which I divided, and will probably post the second half friday but obviously part of this can clearly see the start in terms of impact on the realm of that divine shard being absorbed into perks for the realm even though its not as per the jump document instantaneous.
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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I don't mind that its not instanteous, and if anything that actually works better
because the entire point of Davik's little snippet at the beginning of this one if insight in how feudal/medieval people might regard that boon to manifest. The waterways perk won't become really particularly noticeable until the following spring with the thaw and 'Safe Travels' will be more in effect as well, with bountiful being taken as expounding upon examples from the second and fifth explorations finds in terms of mines and quaries like silvertop and sorrowflow
Sarenith 4712AR
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Sarenith 4712AR
The boat ride had been un eventful, allowing them to cover the twenty odd miles of river course up river in the span of a little more than a day. If the warm afternoon of today held then there should have been few if any issues with riding overland except that it was another almost forty miles to the border and crossing over the Crooked river to enter Varndhold pass.
In contrast to the Narlmarches of the domain, at least this portion of Kressel's small hold, in this part of the Kamelands had been erecting largely following Brevic building traditions. It was a mix of Taldane style architecture, was clearly a holdover from the fifth army of exploration's colonists, shaped through the reality of local building materials. Most of the houses had been put together waddle and daub, there were some who's lower reaches had been constructed with field stone and then built up from there, but for the most part Kressel's small hamlet on the northern end of Nettle's Crossing very much resembled Restov in miniature... or would given time to grow into an actual town.. maybe comparing it to Nivitaka's crossing would have been more accurate.
Amiri was not commanding her own collection of troops, because she didn't really have troops in the same way as Kressel did. Kressel had gathered a handful of followers with here a mix of reformed bandits, and those who had entered her service after she had settled into managing the lands of Nettle's crossing. They thankfully included a handful of competent bowmen that she had collected to support Saeya's handful of polearm wielding plate armored armingers. Eire recognized that ... the simple reality was Amiri would need to to take steps to be more than just a brave Kellid warrior... but he supposed he shouldn't have been talking about such things without first expanding his own retinue... he had done little to start recruiting of formal regiments despite having considered it during the crisis with Hargulka this time last year...
... but a handful of co religionists with swords camped at hereford was a small start... and they had other problems now...
His eyes narrowed as the Shrike flowed down from the north, ... instead that had been resolved much like how they intended to resolve the Varnhold Vanishing...
... was he right, was his recollection of another world correct, was this Vordakai's doing? Or was it something else... he didn't remember the silver dragon, the lake any of that... and of course there had been other developments... Shyka he was sure hadn't appeared, and she had done something in front of that gate before changing bodies again.... They had done something else... something both seemed alien and familiar.
He'd been trying to think about it... but kept coming back to the mystery of the sword, and the disappeared Eldest, Count Ranalc... and the whole affair... as if he was looking right at something but kept missing the trees for the forest.
"I don't know if a bird could do that." Linzi remarked as she pulled her quill from the edge of her mouth, unheeding of his own internal musings, as he had been to the ongoing conversation.
Amiri scoffed. Apparently there were stories she had heard, from the migrating tribesfolk, of a giant black bird and somewhere called Talon Peak in the border lands. The Kellids could hardly have been expected to figure out who's side it was on when he and Maegar probably couldn't have told them about the alleged peak.
It was somewhere north of Lake Silverstep, and west of the Crooked river. Those same kellid tribesfolk had apparently indicated that there re was at least one, and probably more than one mountain pass that ran through the tors south east of the Gudrin River's source as it seemed that the mammoths migrated through the mountains and watered at the lake before continuing west into the kamelands. Neither the rumors of a giant bird living on the ruins of an ancient tower on Talon peak, nor the migration of mammoths seemed likely to be the cause of Varnhold's disappearance.
"Restov said there were cannibal centaurs in the dunsward."
... and Eire was skeptical of tales of human eating centaurs to say the least... but certainly he could have been wrong. Evil gnomes living the hills was another interesting tell... apparently they had stolen some magical bow from the centaurs but again it was unlikely gnomes up to mischief had stopped Maegar Varn from sending word either. "If you encounter any centaurs attempt peaceful contact first, do not initiate hostilities." Eire cautioned.
Linzi blinked, "Even if they've been attacking Lord Maegar?"
"Yeah, what should we do then?'
It was unfortunately more likely they might have caused trouble for him than any goblins, "Unless they attack you." He replied to Amiri's question. "I want answers to what has happened, and that is our immediate priority, and if we're engaged in fighting someone who isn't responsible that will take time that we don't really have to waste." The sooner they found Maegar the better, the sooner they found the other baron the sooner they'd be able to return. "We're going to occupy Varnhold and search for signs of why there had been no response."
"So you don't think they're there?"
He paused, Jamandi had said her messengers had disappeared... and certainly among 'mundane' answers a plague forcing quarantine could be possible... "The complete lack of word from the barony is what leads to me suspect something had caused them to disappear since we've heard nothing, since not one messenger managed to get out," Jamandi was right to be worried.
Shaoyu interrupted buffeting away from the crowd of sootscales and mites who had been asking questions. She huffed, and complained that they weren't, the kobolds and mites, weren't distinguishing between Eranex... and any other silver dragon who they hadn't met yet.
He wasn't surprised, he had had no more luck before the boat ride explaining that to the kobolds, other than he was relatively sure they understood that Eranex and Amvarean were siblings... which might have actually been compounding the problem he wasn't entirely sure. "Is there anything else?" He asked.
His ward crossed her arms, "Humans called Tiger Lords migrate west." she replied and obviously thinking of 'abu ijn's map', "Distant relations perhaps of those other ones. Their numbers are spread, they claim from the realm of mammoth lords, to Ustalav all the way to the far south and deep into Iobaria. They spoke of a big cat in the high mountains call speartooth." Amiri perked up
Eire nearly immediately prohibited the two from going to hunt the creature. He decided not to mention simply to avoid the issue being discussed later. "And?"
Amiri beat her to it, "In the lands of the Mammoth Lords, the Tiger Lords tell how it took a red dragon to fell their ancient war leader Armag." Eire wondered how that sat with the tribes relations with Brevoy or if it mattered to the Tiger Lords that Brevoy had been founded by a king using red dragons as the ultimate arbiter of his disputes.
"Are they hostile?"
Shaoyu paused, composing her response, "At the moment no. They were lead by a cleric of Gorum, while the tribe was accepting of hospitality it wouldn't stop future battles if the tribe were to be retained as mercenaries from fighting against us in the future."
... that was fair Eire mused. There were mercenaries, even mercenary companies that venerated Iomedae, but she was more goddess of questing adventurers... Gorrum at least of any of the gods of Avistan could be said to be the patron of soldiers of fortune. Of course so far the main line clergy of the Lord of Iron was concerned with all soldiers, and encouraged especially was taking impulsive courageous action... which might explain why the church of Gorrum's Saint Fang was apparently a Silver Dragon.
In Shrikewall, in the Narhold's case more broadly during the Troll Troubles of this past year they had never reached anywhere approaching even a one in four ratio of soldiers to farmers. The process of establishing thick hardwood palisades they certainly hadn't had the time to pivot to consider curtain walls made out of stone... because of course they hadn't expected the troll issue.
But with the summer harvest underway in the baronial domain there was a surplus now that would have been able to support a field force if that were ultimately required.... last year the news of the trolls had come too late to start planning to mobilize and take stocks... in part because there was no middle layer of feudal tenants to organize. "I see." Eire replied, "Let them pass so long as they don't breach the peace." That was one thing that could be said for the migrating tribes hospitality was sacred and the various tribes migrating had been good about maintaining the peace.
Eire suspected that that was reciprocity, and that further north in Brevoy the complaints about Kellid marauders might as well have been Issian and Brevic assumptions turning into self fulfilling prophecies. So far though tribes like the Tiger Lords, most recently, or the Greattusks who... obviously migrated following after the mammoths, or the bone grass. Akiros hadn't had any further contact with his adopted tribe, but then he also wasn't sure if Kundal's native tribe had passed through. He hadn't heard of Amiri's extended six bear kin group in the region either... and he couldn't pretend that he'd ordered an exhaustive list of Numerian kellid tribes compiled when this had first started, even though the most nomadic tribes had little grasp of political maps so much as respecting their hosts and the local ground when at peace.
Not that his long term priority wasn't to use the direct lands under his rule to support a standing permanent army... but that was proving to have other logistical hurdles unrelated to the constant disturbances brought on by events on the borders or elsewhere. Eire was keen to settle things in Varnhold quickly, "Eranex believes Amvarien lives in what is technically," Per the Rostlandic recognition of Maegar's realm, "Varnhold's far south."
"So you'll leave."
"You will occupy Varnhold with the forces following if we can't find Maegar," He replied turning north to face the shrike's course way and in the direction of Varnhold. "We're going to fly south east." They were going to cheat of course and use diving magic to search for Amvarean's lair he wasn't about to waste time flying all over the Tors, but finding the silver might yield answers, and Amvarean might be able to answer Eranex's questions about her sire's disappearance as well... but really finding the silver dragon and potentially securing her assistance or at least ascertaining her whereabouts had been something to do for some time now. Not knowing the disposition of an adult dragon was unwise.
He looked across the barge clad waters that stretched a few hundred feet wide waiting to offload and head north, or be loaded with goods heading down river to Shrikewall or Candlemere. They needed a better understanding of the eastern border looked like. They had a journey ahead of them even if it was only a couple of days easy riding by horse... which if anything made the lack of warning that something had happened to Varnhold the more disturbing.
--
Notes: At some point we will get a glimpse into Vordakai's perspective.
Nominally update wise I plan to do the next one Monday with the arrival at Varnhold pass, and then into Varnhold itself.
The boat ride had been un eventful, allowing them to cover the twenty odd miles of river course up river in the span of a little more than a day. If the warm afternoon of today held then there should have been few if any issues with riding overland except that it was another almost forty miles to the border and crossing over the Crooked river to enter Varndhold pass.
In contrast to the Narlmarches of the domain, at least this portion of Kressel's small hold, in this part of the Kamelands had been erecting largely following Brevic building traditions. It was a mix of Taldane style architecture, was clearly a holdover from the fifth army of exploration's colonists, shaped through the reality of local building materials. Most of the houses had been put together waddle and daub, there were some who's lower reaches had been constructed with field stone and then built up from there, but for the most part Kressel's small hamlet on the northern end of Nettle's Crossing very much resembled Restov in miniature... or would given time to grow into an actual town.. maybe comparing it to Nivitaka's crossing would have been more accurate.
Amiri was not commanding her own collection of troops, because she didn't really have troops in the same way as Kressel did. Kressel had gathered a handful of followers with here a mix of reformed bandits, and those who had entered her service after she had settled into managing the lands of Nettle's crossing. They thankfully included a handful of competent bowmen that she had collected to support Saeya's handful of polearm wielding plate armored armingers. Eire recognized that ... the simple reality was Amiri would need to to take steps to be more than just a brave Kellid warrior... but he supposed he shouldn't have been talking about such things without first expanding his own retinue... he had done little to start recruiting of formal regiments despite having considered it during the crisis with Hargulka this time last year...
... but a handful of co religionists with swords camped at hereford was a small start... and they had other problems now...
His eyes narrowed as the Shrike flowed down from the north, ... instead that had been resolved much like how they intended to resolve the Varnhold Vanishing...
... was he right, was his recollection of another world correct, was this Vordakai's doing? Or was it something else... he didn't remember the silver dragon, the lake any of that... and of course there had been other developments... Shyka he was sure hadn't appeared, and she had done something in front of that gate before changing bodies again.... They had done something else... something both seemed alien and familiar.
He'd been trying to think about it... but kept coming back to the mystery of the sword, and the disappeared Eldest, Count Ranalc... and the whole affair... as if he was looking right at something but kept missing the trees for the forest.
"I don't know if a bird could do that." Linzi remarked as she pulled her quill from the edge of her mouth, unheeding of his own internal musings, as he had been to the ongoing conversation.
Amiri scoffed. Apparently there were stories she had heard, from the migrating tribesfolk, of a giant black bird and somewhere called Talon Peak in the border lands. The Kellids could hardly have been expected to figure out who's side it was on when he and Maegar probably couldn't have told them about the alleged peak.
It was somewhere north of Lake Silverstep, and west of the Crooked river. Those same kellid tribesfolk had apparently indicated that there re was at least one, and probably more than one mountain pass that ran through the tors south east of the Gudrin River's source as it seemed that the mammoths migrated through the mountains and watered at the lake before continuing west into the kamelands. Neither the rumors of a giant bird living on the ruins of an ancient tower on Talon peak, nor the migration of mammoths seemed likely to be the cause of Varnhold's disappearance.
"Restov said there were cannibal centaurs in the dunsward."
... and Eire was skeptical of tales of human eating centaurs to say the least... but certainly he could have been wrong. Evil gnomes living the hills was another interesting tell... apparently they had stolen some magical bow from the centaurs but again it was unlikely gnomes up to mischief had stopped Maegar Varn from sending word either. "If you encounter any centaurs attempt peaceful contact first, do not initiate hostilities." Eire cautioned.
Linzi blinked, "Even if they've been attacking Lord Maegar?"
"Yeah, what should we do then?'
It was unfortunately more likely they might have caused trouble for him than any goblins, "Unless they attack you." He replied to Amiri's question. "I want answers to what has happened, and that is our immediate priority, and if we're engaged in fighting someone who isn't responsible that will take time that we don't really have to waste." The sooner they found Maegar the better, the sooner they found the other baron the sooner they'd be able to return. "We're going to occupy Varnhold and search for signs of why there had been no response."
"So you don't think they're there?"
He paused, Jamandi had said her messengers had disappeared... and certainly among 'mundane' answers a plague forcing quarantine could be possible... "The complete lack of word from the barony is what leads to me suspect something had caused them to disappear since we've heard nothing, since not one messenger managed to get out," Jamandi was right to be worried.
Shaoyu interrupted buffeting away from the crowd of sootscales and mites who had been asking questions. She huffed, and complained that they weren't, the kobolds and mites, weren't distinguishing between Eranex... and any other silver dragon who they hadn't met yet.
He wasn't surprised, he had had no more luck before the boat ride explaining that to the kobolds, other than he was relatively sure they understood that Eranex and Amvarean were siblings... which might have actually been compounding the problem he wasn't entirely sure. "Is there anything else?" He asked.
His ward crossed her arms, "Humans called Tiger Lords migrate west." she replied and obviously thinking of 'abu ijn's map', "Distant relations perhaps of those other ones. Their numbers are spread, they claim from the realm of mammoth lords, to Ustalav all the way to the far south and deep into Iobaria. They spoke of a big cat in the high mountains call speartooth." Amiri perked up
Eire nearly immediately prohibited the two from going to hunt the creature. He decided not to mention simply to avoid the issue being discussed later. "And?"
Amiri beat her to it, "In the lands of the Mammoth Lords, the Tiger Lords tell how it took a red dragon to fell their ancient war leader Armag." Eire wondered how that sat with the tribes relations with Brevoy or if it mattered to the Tiger Lords that Brevoy had been founded by a king using red dragons as the ultimate arbiter of his disputes.
"Are they hostile?"
Shaoyu paused, composing her response, "At the moment no. They were lead by a cleric of Gorum, while the tribe was accepting of hospitality it wouldn't stop future battles if the tribe were to be retained as mercenaries from fighting against us in the future."
... that was fair Eire mused. There were mercenaries, even mercenary companies that venerated Iomedae, but she was more goddess of questing adventurers... Gorrum at least of any of the gods of Avistan could be said to be the patron of soldiers of fortune. Of course so far the main line clergy of the Lord of Iron was concerned with all soldiers, and encouraged especially was taking impulsive courageous action... which might explain why the church of Gorrum's Saint Fang was apparently a Silver Dragon.
In Shrikewall, in the Narhold's case more broadly during the Troll Troubles of this past year they had never reached anywhere approaching even a one in four ratio of soldiers to farmers. The process of establishing thick hardwood palisades they certainly hadn't had the time to pivot to consider curtain walls made out of stone... because of course they hadn't expected the troll issue.
But with the summer harvest underway in the baronial domain there was a surplus now that would have been able to support a field force if that were ultimately required.... last year the news of the trolls had come too late to start planning to mobilize and take stocks... in part because there was no middle layer of feudal tenants to organize. "I see." Eire replied, "Let them pass so long as they don't breach the peace." That was one thing that could be said for the migrating tribes hospitality was sacred and the various tribes migrating had been good about maintaining the peace.
Eire suspected that that was reciprocity, and that further north in Brevoy the complaints about Kellid marauders might as well have been Issian and Brevic assumptions turning into self fulfilling prophecies. So far though tribes like the Tiger Lords, most recently, or the Greattusks who... obviously migrated following after the mammoths, or the bone grass. Akiros hadn't had any further contact with his adopted tribe, but then he also wasn't sure if Kundal's native tribe had passed through. He hadn't heard of Amiri's extended six bear kin group in the region either... and he couldn't pretend that he'd ordered an exhaustive list of Numerian kellid tribes compiled when this had first started, even though the most nomadic tribes had little grasp of political maps so much as respecting their hosts and the local ground when at peace.
Not that his long term priority wasn't to use the direct lands under his rule to support a standing permanent army... but that was proving to have other logistical hurdles unrelated to the constant disturbances brought on by events on the borders or elsewhere. Eire was keen to settle things in Varnhold quickly, "Eranex believes Amvarien lives in what is technically," Per the Rostlandic recognition of Maegar's realm, "Varnhold's far south."
"So you'll leave."
"You will occupy Varnhold with the forces following if we can't find Maegar," He replied turning north to face the shrike's course way and in the direction of Varnhold. "We're going to fly south east." They were going to cheat of course and use diving magic to search for Amvarean's lair he wasn't about to waste time flying all over the Tors, but finding the silver might yield answers, and Amvarean might be able to answer Eranex's questions about her sire's disappearance as well... but really finding the silver dragon and potentially securing her assistance or at least ascertaining her whereabouts had been something to do for some time now. Not knowing the disposition of an adult dragon was unwise.
He looked across the barge clad waters that stretched a few hundred feet wide waiting to offload and head north, or be loaded with goods heading down river to Shrikewall or Candlemere. They needed a better understanding of the eastern border looked like. They had a journey ahead of them even if it was only a couple of days easy riding by horse... which if anything made the lack of warning that something had happened to Varnhold the more disturbing.
--
Notes: At some point we will get a glimpse into Vordakai's perspective.
Nominally update wise I plan to do the next one Monday with the arrival at Varnhold pass, and then into Varnhold itself.
Sarenith 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Sarenith 4712
The summer sun transformed the grasslands which defined the kamelands. They were awash with grasses as tall as Linzi, and blooming flowers. The road to Sorrowflow was up through rockier terrain, and it had been earlier in the year as well so it hadn't been in full bloom as this track of land was.
And with the summer bloom the Mammoths migrated heedless of any political boundaries on mortal maps. Eire had been told that there were other creatures as well. The Thylacines seemed as out of time to him as the smilodons, the dire wolves, the great elks and the rest. There were a host of more normal, as he thought of them creatures, coexisting with the ancient prehistoric ones, and of course then there were also Griffins, and wyverns, and drakes and more.
The last thing he wanted to contend with were Amiri and Shaoyu running off to hunt giant game though. It was an impressive sight though. The existence of bison travelling was just one more curiosity for the time being, another entry in a long list of avistan's fauna and flora. A detail that most people took in stride, or as simply a fact, and went on with their lives.
In the north rose the tors, and while it wasn't readily visible from here the pass that tracked eastward , and then much more southerly as the crooked river flowed down from the peaks. The crooked river though was not the pass, or at least not the entirety of it. Eire suspected this was another example of historic glaciation or certainly erosion as a result of thousands of years of flooding. Given the existence of so many Taldan mines most likely there was a wealth of ore, and precious metals, and gemstones in the region.
He doubted Jamandi had considered that. The swordlords... well Restov seemed to operate on a mercantilist view of trade a few centuries behind ideas like capital investment, and Adam Smith. Part of that was the limitations in local bookkeeping and banking systems. Restov trusted the clergy of Abadar but it seemed unlikely the Issians in the north were going to develop any sort of national bank on their own, and that created structural limitations.
"Its a few miles to the border." The unmarked, unguarded, boundary existed basically on paper and even maps couldn't agree exactly where it was sometimes even when two maps were penned by the same cartographer. He doubted they would find anything though. Kressel had sent out scouts to see if there was any activity, but they hadn't moved too far over the border before turning back having seen nothing.
There were no signs of the work parties. The varnhold side labor rotas that should have been working on their half of the roads were no where to be seen. The work camps were completely abandoned and with no obvious explanation. The fact that the small hamlet of Varnhold Pass where the workers should have been based from was the bigger red flag. It had been at that point Kressels men had ridden back over the border.
They had at least some idea of what to expect at the nearest settlement... an abandoned town. That should have been a cause for alarm from Varnhold proper reaching out to Restov, and Shrikewall... certainly when Drelev's outlying settlements had started being attacked by trolls he'd gone running to Restov, presumably relatively early in the crisis. Eire had begun to suspect that while the trade route was lucrative much of Drelev's legal domain was hard to cultivate marshlands forcing him to push further and further down the western shore, and that had been what had made his settlements of tenants vulnerable to Harrgulka in the first place. Trobold's lord could tell him little about the western barony that Eire didn't more or less already know... which was ultimately not a lot.
Drelev and Maegar Varn had both been working to settle their domains, but that had largely been dominated by the need to establish farms, and especially in Drelev's case settle his knights into their own feefs. The enoffment process seemed to have been Drelev's priority after raising his stone keep, the eponymous Fort Drelev. Of the three baronies the most classically feudal arrangement of land and power... and let Drelev had seemingly been the one first to call for aid.... but he'd been able to call for aid.
They followed the dirt road in silence for another hour slowly winding along the worn path scattering game as they rode. The animals skittered out of the path but none of their behavior whether the prancing deer or cawing crows showed any indication of serious distress. The land was healthy here as well. There were no signs of fire or other distress. Indeed as Kressle's scouts had reported by the time they road into the town set down in Varnhold Pass there was no one to greet them despite it being midday. There were none in the fields, and all the hearths were long cold.
There were no signs on the horizon either. No signs of campfires or the smoke from the large communal bakery Varnhold town proper had to provide daily bread was visible on the horizon. The town of Varnhold Pass was completely abandonned with no sign of a struggle. The most recent tracks crossed back over the Crooked river and were likely those of Kressle's retainers... but there was no indication of the inhabitants.
There were no expended arrows or other indication of conflict... there were no horse tracks. "This hasn't been long abandoned, your grace." A cleric remarked holding his reins as he swung down off the palfrey.
He nodded eyes searching around as parties were organized to examine the village. The construction was simple a mix of brevic style wooden homes that were clearly recent ish construction replacing sod dug out style homes. The state of the villages limited livestock suggested that 'long' was subjective. They hadn't' yet gotten near to trying to break out of their pens but they were skittish and needed clean water and fresh fodder put out.
A rapid search of men fanning out over the small settlement turned up no leads. "We ride for Varnhold. Send work back that the settlement is abandoned, and have a work party detailed to tend to the animals here, and maintain a watch." The parties had scrolls of sending... but the question lingered if whatever had come for Varnhold would give them time to sound an alarm by magic.
Varnhold proper, the actual seat of the eastern barony, was another ten miles east. They rode fast pushing the horses harder than the more guarded watchful pace they'd been managing. From a hillside near the pass it was clear that something was wrong even without a pair of binoculars, or a far eye telescope. The previous lack of fire signs from the bakery chimney or soot from the forge for that matter was a red flag, but more so than that was movement down below.
"Raiders." They were obviously not orcs, but while humanoid not humans, "Gnomes of some sort."
Spriggans. Ultimately not responsible but Amiri wasted no time in charging down the hill at the possibility that the malicious little blighters were responsible. Where she lead a party followed, and then a second. With that the relief expedition to Varnhold became a war party. Eire stopped part of the response and sent them to circle around and envelop the rest of the township. From the state of Varnholds crops standing mature in the field they hadn't gotten to harvesting. Heavy were the heads of grain that stood in the communal fields given the damage he expected some was from the spriggans and some just looked like hogs had been lose in the fields, and one couldn't discount deer.
There weren't enough spriggans to be responsible, they were just opportunists, which only made the lack of explanation worse not better. The baronial seat was as abandoned as the village in the pass had been. Eire swung and dismounted off the sable horse he'd ridden the second half of the distance to Varnhold from as they came up to the Spriggans poking around the nearest thing that Varnhold had to an official church. Its parsonage was the neatest of Varnhold's common fields, and the whitewashed building stood out amongst the host of buildings. Mouri was already in progress with a collection of young fighters, the looters attempting to fend them off with their own polearms. Spriggans were a strange offshoot of gnomes they still retained a touch of winter court and could change size growing ... to well gigantic proportions.
... but they were not warriors. The culchek tribe of spriggans had clearly looted one of Varnhold's armory of weapons, but their simple leather jerkins did little to protect them against the more effective pole axes wielded by the armingers, those in training for knighthood, and the young hellknight leading them in largely individual clash and melee. The stolen halberds from Varnhold's armory might have performed better if the Spriggans had been fighters and not raiders and bandits, or if they had simply been better protected.
Instead Mouri exploited the better protection offered by their heavier armor to force through and aim blows at un protected joints, or move to hook and push aside opposing polearms to then step into spear point thrusts. It was a matter of cumulative advantage, better training, better weapons, better armor, greater familiarity. Mottled grey green flesh and bulbous heads split and spriggans fell and without the aid of divine magic and clerics the Culchek tribe could not sustain a standing engagement... not when they didn't even have shoes on.
Though Eire was confident that they weren't responsible, this was important for other reasons. This was an important lesson all the same. It was this kind of fighting the barony needed to be prepared for, he needed a core of professional heavy infantry. As the last of the ring of metal clash dimmed and coup de grace were administered Eire approached the entryway the stained glass facade of the building was intact, which was better than could be said for the interior. Eire was unsure of how exactly Maegar had chosen to run his domain's administration. It stood out that the Erastilian church had a parsonage, but no rectory... which suggested that the presiding clergy had a home or lodgings elsewhere.
One of Maegar's companions that he had been introduced to previous was a cleric of Erastil so they might have had a home nearer to the Baron of Varnhold's own house... but Eire was certain that regardless of how Maegar organized his domain that the church here would have its own records. He stepped past splintered pews and a wine stained altar looking around. It took time to search but he suspected that the matters were well in hand, and indeed the Church of Erastil had a book, and ledgers of the church's business.
The local cemetery was a small affair even accounting for the occasional skirmishes with spriggans and centaurs in the wilderness, as well other monsters the most recent plot was still fresh. It, and its entry, dated it to be from the end of Desnus. That gave them a time frame.
The summer sun transformed the grasslands which defined the kamelands. They were awash with grasses as tall as Linzi, and blooming flowers. The road to Sorrowflow was up through rockier terrain, and it had been earlier in the year as well so it hadn't been in full bloom as this track of land was.
And with the summer bloom the Mammoths migrated heedless of any political boundaries on mortal maps. Eire had been told that there were other creatures as well. The Thylacines seemed as out of time to him as the smilodons, the dire wolves, the great elks and the rest. There were a host of more normal, as he thought of them creatures, coexisting with the ancient prehistoric ones, and of course then there were also Griffins, and wyverns, and drakes and more.
The last thing he wanted to contend with were Amiri and Shaoyu running off to hunt giant game though. It was an impressive sight though. The existence of bison travelling was just one more curiosity for the time being, another entry in a long list of avistan's fauna and flora. A detail that most people took in stride, or as simply a fact, and went on with their lives.
In the north rose the tors, and while it wasn't readily visible from here the pass that tracked eastward , and then much more southerly as the crooked river flowed down from the peaks. The crooked river though was not the pass, or at least not the entirety of it. Eire suspected this was another example of historic glaciation or certainly erosion as a result of thousands of years of flooding. Given the existence of so many Taldan mines most likely there was a wealth of ore, and precious metals, and gemstones in the region.
He doubted Jamandi had considered that. The swordlords... well Restov seemed to operate on a mercantilist view of trade a few centuries behind ideas like capital investment, and Adam Smith. Part of that was the limitations in local bookkeeping and banking systems. Restov trusted the clergy of Abadar but it seemed unlikely the Issians in the north were going to develop any sort of national bank on their own, and that created structural limitations.
"Its a few miles to the border." The unmarked, unguarded, boundary existed basically on paper and even maps couldn't agree exactly where it was sometimes even when two maps were penned by the same cartographer. He doubted they would find anything though. Kressel had sent out scouts to see if there was any activity, but they hadn't moved too far over the border before turning back having seen nothing.
There were no signs of the work parties. The varnhold side labor rotas that should have been working on their half of the roads were no where to be seen. The work camps were completely abandoned and with no obvious explanation. The fact that the small hamlet of Varnhold Pass where the workers should have been based from was the bigger red flag. It had been at that point Kressels men had ridden back over the border.
They had at least some idea of what to expect at the nearest settlement... an abandoned town. That should have been a cause for alarm from Varnhold proper reaching out to Restov, and Shrikewall... certainly when Drelev's outlying settlements had started being attacked by trolls he'd gone running to Restov, presumably relatively early in the crisis. Eire had begun to suspect that while the trade route was lucrative much of Drelev's legal domain was hard to cultivate marshlands forcing him to push further and further down the western shore, and that had been what had made his settlements of tenants vulnerable to Harrgulka in the first place. Trobold's lord could tell him little about the western barony that Eire didn't more or less already know... which was ultimately not a lot.
Drelev and Maegar Varn had both been working to settle their domains, but that had largely been dominated by the need to establish farms, and especially in Drelev's case settle his knights into their own feefs. The enoffment process seemed to have been Drelev's priority after raising his stone keep, the eponymous Fort Drelev. Of the three baronies the most classically feudal arrangement of land and power... and let Drelev had seemingly been the one first to call for aid.... but he'd been able to call for aid.
They followed the dirt road in silence for another hour slowly winding along the worn path scattering game as they rode. The animals skittered out of the path but none of their behavior whether the prancing deer or cawing crows showed any indication of serious distress. The land was healthy here as well. There were no signs of fire or other distress. Indeed as Kressle's scouts had reported by the time they road into the town set down in Varnhold Pass there was no one to greet them despite it being midday. There were none in the fields, and all the hearths were long cold.
There were no signs on the horizon either. No signs of campfires or the smoke from the large communal bakery Varnhold town proper had to provide daily bread was visible on the horizon. The town of Varnhold Pass was completely abandonned with no sign of a struggle. The most recent tracks crossed back over the Crooked river and were likely those of Kressle's retainers... but there was no indication of the inhabitants.
There were no expended arrows or other indication of conflict... there were no horse tracks. "This hasn't been long abandoned, your grace." A cleric remarked holding his reins as he swung down off the palfrey.
He nodded eyes searching around as parties were organized to examine the village. The construction was simple a mix of brevic style wooden homes that were clearly recent ish construction replacing sod dug out style homes. The state of the villages limited livestock suggested that 'long' was subjective. They hadn't' yet gotten near to trying to break out of their pens but they were skittish and needed clean water and fresh fodder put out.
A rapid search of men fanning out over the small settlement turned up no leads. "We ride for Varnhold. Send work back that the settlement is abandoned, and have a work party detailed to tend to the animals here, and maintain a watch." The parties had scrolls of sending... but the question lingered if whatever had come for Varnhold would give them time to sound an alarm by magic.
Varnhold proper, the actual seat of the eastern barony, was another ten miles east. They rode fast pushing the horses harder than the more guarded watchful pace they'd been managing. From a hillside near the pass it was clear that something was wrong even without a pair of binoculars, or a far eye telescope. The previous lack of fire signs from the bakery chimney or soot from the forge for that matter was a red flag, but more so than that was movement down below.
"Raiders." They were obviously not orcs, but while humanoid not humans, "Gnomes of some sort."
Spriggans. Ultimately not responsible but Amiri wasted no time in charging down the hill at the possibility that the malicious little blighters were responsible. Where she lead a party followed, and then a second. With that the relief expedition to Varnhold became a war party. Eire stopped part of the response and sent them to circle around and envelop the rest of the township. From the state of Varnholds crops standing mature in the field they hadn't gotten to harvesting. Heavy were the heads of grain that stood in the communal fields given the damage he expected some was from the spriggans and some just looked like hogs had been lose in the fields, and one couldn't discount deer.
There weren't enough spriggans to be responsible, they were just opportunists, which only made the lack of explanation worse not better. The baronial seat was as abandoned as the village in the pass had been. Eire swung and dismounted off the sable horse he'd ridden the second half of the distance to Varnhold from as they came up to the Spriggans poking around the nearest thing that Varnhold had to an official church. Its parsonage was the neatest of Varnhold's common fields, and the whitewashed building stood out amongst the host of buildings. Mouri was already in progress with a collection of young fighters, the looters attempting to fend them off with their own polearms. Spriggans were a strange offshoot of gnomes they still retained a touch of winter court and could change size growing ... to well gigantic proportions.
... but they were not warriors. The culchek tribe of spriggans had clearly looted one of Varnhold's armory of weapons, but their simple leather jerkins did little to protect them against the more effective pole axes wielded by the armingers, those in training for knighthood, and the young hellknight leading them in largely individual clash and melee. The stolen halberds from Varnhold's armory might have performed better if the Spriggans had been fighters and not raiders and bandits, or if they had simply been better protected.
Instead Mouri exploited the better protection offered by their heavier armor to force through and aim blows at un protected joints, or move to hook and push aside opposing polearms to then step into spear point thrusts. It was a matter of cumulative advantage, better training, better weapons, better armor, greater familiarity. Mottled grey green flesh and bulbous heads split and spriggans fell and without the aid of divine magic and clerics the Culchek tribe could not sustain a standing engagement... not when they didn't even have shoes on.
Though Eire was confident that they weren't responsible, this was important for other reasons. This was an important lesson all the same. It was this kind of fighting the barony needed to be prepared for, he needed a core of professional heavy infantry. As the last of the ring of metal clash dimmed and coup de grace were administered Eire approached the entryway the stained glass facade of the building was intact, which was better than could be said for the interior. Eire was unsure of how exactly Maegar had chosen to run his domain's administration. It stood out that the Erastilian church had a parsonage, but no rectory... which suggested that the presiding clergy had a home or lodgings elsewhere.
One of Maegar's companions that he had been introduced to previous was a cleric of Erastil so they might have had a home nearer to the Baron of Varnhold's own house... but Eire was certain that regardless of how Maegar organized his domain that the church here would have its own records. He stepped past splintered pews and a wine stained altar looking around. It took time to search but he suspected that the matters were well in hand, and indeed the Church of Erastil had a book, and ledgers of the church's business.
The local cemetery was a small affair even accounting for the occasional skirmishes with spriggans and centaurs in the wilderness, as well other monsters the most recent plot was still fresh. It, and its entry, dated it to be from the end of Desnus. That gave them a time frame.
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Trek
The Ascendant
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This is missing its threadmark.
Sarenith 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Sarenith 4712
Eire stood by the window as the summer sun streamed in through the glazed glass. A large section of varnhold's livestock south of the Kiravoy had been slaughtered for no other reason than spriggan malice and left to lay in the southern pasturelands... they probably simply hadn't gotten around to doing it to the farms north of the river. There was a running tally of dead cows being laid, and other losses to the Varnhold commons. It was of course also possible that the spriggan chief had managed to stop his raiders upon realizing that killing the livestock served less of a purpose if there were no humans around
... not that it mattered Agai the Culchek chieftan had met his end to a flaming longsword as he had moved to join the battle. By the point the spriggans had started to coalesce it had already been too late. The stockade style fort of heavy timbers that Maegar had raised had never been intended to defend against flying enemies and while the raised platform allowed archers a somewhat protected position to fire the gnomish raiders hadn't been able to organize fast enough before the gates were open. Kressle's bowmen had been able to pen the remainder down. Then of course it had been a completed envelopment and to take stock of things.
Shaoyu sat on one of a handful of unbroken chairs that they had salvaged petting a a calico cat named dragon who had lived with the local weavers. There weren't a preponderance of cats in Varnhold and the rats had managed to feast and fight over the granary in the time since the people of varnhold had vanished.
They had not completed the search of the town but they were reasonably certain that the remaining searching could be completed over the following days. They had gathered what they could from the church, as well as from the various officers of the barony's possessions as well as any other possible indicators of what might have happened.
The kulchek tribe of spriggan had if not been destroyed certainly significantly weakened and driven off. A handful of other potential nuisances had also been dealt with but the Spriggans were one of two threats from the wilderlands surrounding the barony that appeared in the record... but their grievance with the Nomen Centaurs did little to explain the situation. Neither the gnomish raiders nor their centaur rivals explained the disappearance of the population.
On the table where no doubt Maegar Varn had held council was a longsword. The spriggan leader had stolen a bag of holding from someone and with in it had been among other treasures the blade. It was magical and more importantly for their reasons bore the crest of the Issian house of Varn. There was no reason Maegar should have been without hte weapon.
It was an ill omen to those of Gorrum, and of Iomedae's faiths. Maegar Varn was missing with all of his folk, and had disappeared without giving battle. All of Maegar's councilors were among those missing. The wizard, the cleric, and also Mr. Willas Gundarson who had apparently been installed as march warden. The ulfen ranger had apparently been put to task dealing with the northern reaches as his home, which doubled as his office, and easily distinguished by the long house's architecture, had had plenty of information on the centaurs including significant academic material.
Willas's journal, penned in the skaldic alphabet, had revised their chronology down to about a fortnight in terms of time. There was an entry about a bracelet which had only attracted attention because of a skaldic symbol to ward off ill fortune scribed next to it dated back during the spring thaws. There were a handful of reports of skirmishes with the centaurs but nothing that suggested anything deemed out of the ordinary. Thankfully despite the extent of the spriggan raiding there were enough redundant copies of maps between the fort, the ranger's home, the wizard's home, and the cleric's residence that they had a mostly intact picture of the lands of the hold that had been hitherto explored.
"It is clear that the spriggans were simply opportunistic plunderers, and it seems unlikely the centaurs were any more capable," It seemed that the Nomen from the history of encounters were based much further west and east and that Maegar had not pushed to seriously engage them. It was doubtful in the extreme that they could have done this given the capacities observed by Maegar's wizard advisor or by Willas Gundarson. "I want you to hold this position while we fly south," and used divination to discern the lair of the dragon Amvarean and hope that she was amenable to company, and guests asking questions... he wasn't sure if she would actually know anything, but hopefully she might go and get Eranex and the fae silver might be of some use in their present problem.
--
Amiri wasn't going to pretend she understood or could answer the questions Linzi had. The Bard had had to remain behind which of course meant a lot of chatter about everything they were doing, and had done. The Land of the Mammoth Lords was one steeped in tradition, the kellid ways were old and passed from generation to generation by elder to child. She had wandered across the civilized world and seen dozens of different ways the city folk chose to make their path through the world while still living in one place.
It wasn't like some people who tried to pretend to understand, tried to come up with explanations. Why did they need to do that? Did they have to keep trying to guess, and talk like they knew? Amiri didn't understand that more than anything city folk tended to do. As long as the thing worked shouldn't that be fine? If something didn't work you tried something else, it wasn't as if they weren't asked for input on various challenges.
Linzi though had had to remain behind while the baron went to find a silver dragon. The kobolds accompanying the expedition were equally disappointed at being left out, but since none of them could fly it wasn't like they could have gone.
... and for that matter who cared which of the gods you worshipped. It was what you did how you lived your life, that was what mattered. Varnhold the town though... was easily the size of a fully gathered following in the realm of hte mammoth lords and that they could just vanish without a trace she had to admit bothered her, scared her even... so Amiri was willing to accept that maybe Eire going by himself to find a dragon to ask was an acceptable solution to the present problem.
Unfortunately as a solution is left them sitting in an abandoned town that was missing all of its people, and that was creepy. It was made all the creepier by the books and parchments they had salvaged from the missing's possessions.
She was mostly relying on the others to read through the mix of Common, and Skaldic logs. Eire had of course told Maegar Varn about the Cyclops ruins and it seemed as if Willas Gundarson had been pursuing such in search of treasure. Much as with Narland the eastern barony had its share of cyclops ruins. Reports from eastern brevoy, to the north, including one such site that had been sealed off by order of one of the now dead Rogavarian kings some seventy plus years earlier.
It presented the possibility that something similar to the fate of Vladlena Lenyenko's adventurers had befallen the Varnhold's inhabitants, but this was a much greater disaster than just many adventurers disappearing into some long hidden dungeon built in ancient history by some long gone giants.
The documents did seem to confirm the belief that the mountains were likely home to great mineral wealth... but it didn't give them any proof to what may have happened to the missing barony. There were a few other settlements that Maegar had established largely placed in easily defensible positions along the trade roads that would hopefully enrich his nascent domain... but given the Varnhold pass village it was unlikely that the settlements nearer to Restov were any less empty of people.
"We still need to investigate the Kiravoy crossing." Even though the village there had likely already been checked by riders from Brevoy. It was after all only about twenty miles south of the Brevic village they had met Mouri in fighting the hags.
She grunted and pushed away from the table, it was better than staying here and dealing with these dusty books. Amiri had largely decided there wasn't likely going to be anything interesting at the farm so the notion that there might be more cyclopean ruins, or elven ruins or dwarves was pointless chatter. While there probably were some somewhere they hadn't found any records of any being close by and certainly none within a day's ride that the neighboring barony had known about before they had disappeared.
It was only as she was collecting her weapons and preparing to assemble a body of riders that she had to stop and put things down as the sending stone began to chime from the table. IT was not unfortunately Eire. Jaethal's voice came from the magic stone apparently talking hastily with Kaessi and Harrim in the background.
They took a minute to get everything to get settled, but then moved on. The Jaethal lead with a snide comment about the scholar's notes they found, a 'professor Penrod' who had journeyed from Oppara, "Vordakai isn't a god, he was an ancient cyclops wizard." Jaethal didn't elaborate on how she knew that but from the chattering background noise Amiri could guess that the sweet teeth had been cataloging the cyclopean ruins within the Narlmarches, but it was a name from out of time. From before the earth fall before the Elves had fled the light of Golarion's sun, and the cyclops must have died out.
"That would make sense." Mouri remarked leaning on the heavy oak table still wearing her armor.
Amiri was too busy searching for the Ulfen ranger's sketches. They hadn't found the 'bracelet', but it wasn't a bracelet. "Its not a bracelet, Its a giant's ring." The Kellid warrior declared finding it and tapping her finger on the charcoal sketch, which smudged it accidentally. She didn't curse the accident, and looked around at the others in the room as they again considered the fate of Vladlena Lenyenko's adventurers.
Linzi brought the conversation back around to the centaurs to the east. A cyclops wizard... it seemed that exonerated the horse folk, "the plan does not change then." He remarked. "It would be good to make peaceable contact with the centaurs but holding Varnhold is our priority." but Linzi was right given what they knew of the notes left behind by Willas and this 'professor penrose' and what they did know about the Nomen centaurs in general
Eire stood by the window as the summer sun streamed in through the glazed glass. A large section of varnhold's livestock south of the Kiravoy had been slaughtered for no other reason than spriggan malice and left to lay in the southern pasturelands... they probably simply hadn't gotten around to doing it to the farms north of the river. There was a running tally of dead cows being laid, and other losses to the Varnhold commons. It was of course also possible that the spriggan chief had managed to stop his raiders upon realizing that killing the livestock served less of a purpose if there were no humans around
... not that it mattered Agai the Culchek chieftan had met his end to a flaming longsword as he had moved to join the battle. By the point the spriggans had started to coalesce it had already been too late. The stockade style fort of heavy timbers that Maegar had raised had never been intended to defend against flying enemies and while the raised platform allowed archers a somewhat protected position to fire the gnomish raiders hadn't been able to organize fast enough before the gates were open. Kressle's bowmen had been able to pen the remainder down. Then of course it had been a completed envelopment and to take stock of things.
Shaoyu sat on one of a handful of unbroken chairs that they had salvaged petting a a calico cat named dragon who had lived with the local weavers. There weren't a preponderance of cats in Varnhold and the rats had managed to feast and fight over the granary in the time since the people of varnhold had vanished.
They had not completed the search of the town but they were reasonably certain that the remaining searching could be completed over the following days. They had gathered what they could from the church, as well as from the various officers of the barony's possessions as well as any other possible indicators of what might have happened.
The kulchek tribe of spriggan had if not been destroyed certainly significantly weakened and driven off. A handful of other potential nuisances had also been dealt with but the Spriggans were one of two threats from the wilderlands surrounding the barony that appeared in the record... but their grievance with the Nomen Centaurs did little to explain the situation. Neither the gnomish raiders nor their centaur rivals explained the disappearance of the population.
On the table where no doubt Maegar Varn had held council was a longsword. The spriggan leader had stolen a bag of holding from someone and with in it had been among other treasures the blade. It was magical and more importantly for their reasons bore the crest of the Issian house of Varn. There was no reason Maegar should have been without hte weapon.
It was an ill omen to those of Gorrum, and of Iomedae's faiths. Maegar Varn was missing with all of his folk, and had disappeared without giving battle. All of Maegar's councilors were among those missing. The wizard, the cleric, and also Mr. Willas Gundarson who had apparently been installed as march warden. The ulfen ranger had apparently been put to task dealing with the northern reaches as his home, which doubled as his office, and easily distinguished by the long house's architecture, had had plenty of information on the centaurs including significant academic material.
Willas's journal, penned in the skaldic alphabet, had revised their chronology down to about a fortnight in terms of time. There was an entry about a bracelet which had only attracted attention because of a skaldic symbol to ward off ill fortune scribed next to it dated back during the spring thaws. There were a handful of reports of skirmishes with the centaurs but nothing that suggested anything deemed out of the ordinary. Thankfully despite the extent of the spriggan raiding there were enough redundant copies of maps between the fort, the ranger's home, the wizard's home, and the cleric's residence that they had a mostly intact picture of the lands of the hold that had been hitherto explored.
"It is clear that the spriggans were simply opportunistic plunderers, and it seems unlikely the centaurs were any more capable," It seemed that the Nomen from the history of encounters were based much further west and east and that Maegar had not pushed to seriously engage them. It was doubtful in the extreme that they could have done this given the capacities observed by Maegar's wizard advisor or by Willas Gundarson. "I want you to hold this position while we fly south," and used divination to discern the lair of the dragon Amvarean and hope that she was amenable to company, and guests asking questions... he wasn't sure if she would actually know anything, but hopefully she might go and get Eranex and the fae silver might be of some use in their present problem.
--
Amiri wasn't going to pretend she understood or could answer the questions Linzi had. The Bard had had to remain behind which of course meant a lot of chatter about everything they were doing, and had done. The Land of the Mammoth Lords was one steeped in tradition, the kellid ways were old and passed from generation to generation by elder to child. She had wandered across the civilized world and seen dozens of different ways the city folk chose to make their path through the world while still living in one place.
It wasn't like some people who tried to pretend to understand, tried to come up with explanations. Why did they need to do that? Did they have to keep trying to guess, and talk like they knew? Amiri didn't understand that more than anything city folk tended to do. As long as the thing worked shouldn't that be fine? If something didn't work you tried something else, it wasn't as if they weren't asked for input on various challenges.
Linzi though had had to remain behind while the baron went to find a silver dragon. The kobolds accompanying the expedition were equally disappointed at being left out, but since none of them could fly it wasn't like they could have gone.
... and for that matter who cared which of the gods you worshipped. It was what you did how you lived your life, that was what mattered. Varnhold the town though... was easily the size of a fully gathered following in the realm of hte mammoth lords and that they could just vanish without a trace she had to admit bothered her, scared her even... so Amiri was willing to accept that maybe Eire going by himself to find a dragon to ask was an acceptable solution to the present problem.
Unfortunately as a solution is left them sitting in an abandoned town that was missing all of its people, and that was creepy. It was made all the creepier by the books and parchments they had salvaged from the missing's possessions.
She was mostly relying on the others to read through the mix of Common, and Skaldic logs. Eire had of course told Maegar Varn about the Cyclops ruins and it seemed as if Willas Gundarson had been pursuing such in search of treasure. Much as with Narland the eastern barony had its share of cyclops ruins. Reports from eastern brevoy, to the north, including one such site that had been sealed off by order of one of the now dead Rogavarian kings some seventy plus years earlier.
It presented the possibility that something similar to the fate of Vladlena Lenyenko's adventurers had befallen the Varnhold's inhabitants, but this was a much greater disaster than just many adventurers disappearing into some long hidden dungeon built in ancient history by some long gone giants.
The documents did seem to confirm the belief that the mountains were likely home to great mineral wealth... but it didn't give them any proof to what may have happened to the missing barony. There were a few other settlements that Maegar had established largely placed in easily defensible positions along the trade roads that would hopefully enrich his nascent domain... but given the Varnhold pass village it was unlikely that the settlements nearer to Restov were any less empty of people.
"We still need to investigate the Kiravoy crossing." Even though the village there had likely already been checked by riders from Brevoy. It was after all only about twenty miles south of the Brevic village they had met Mouri in fighting the hags.
She grunted and pushed away from the table, it was better than staying here and dealing with these dusty books. Amiri had largely decided there wasn't likely going to be anything interesting at the farm so the notion that there might be more cyclopean ruins, or elven ruins or dwarves was pointless chatter. While there probably were some somewhere they hadn't found any records of any being close by and certainly none within a day's ride that the neighboring barony had known about before they had disappeared.
It was only as she was collecting her weapons and preparing to assemble a body of riders that she had to stop and put things down as the sending stone began to chime from the table. IT was not unfortunately Eire. Jaethal's voice came from the magic stone apparently talking hastily with Kaessi and Harrim in the background.
They took a minute to get everything to get settled, but then moved on. The Jaethal lead with a snide comment about the scholar's notes they found, a 'professor Penrod' who had journeyed from Oppara, "Vordakai isn't a god, he was an ancient cyclops wizard." Jaethal didn't elaborate on how she knew that but from the chattering background noise Amiri could guess that the sweet teeth had been cataloging the cyclopean ruins within the Narlmarches, but it was a name from out of time. From before the earth fall before the Elves had fled the light of Golarion's sun, and the cyclops must have died out.
"That would make sense." Mouri remarked leaning on the heavy oak table still wearing her armor.
Amiri was too busy searching for the Ulfen ranger's sketches. They hadn't found the 'bracelet', but it wasn't a bracelet. "Its not a bracelet, Its a giant's ring." The Kellid warrior declared finding it and tapping her finger on the charcoal sketch, which smudged it accidentally. She didn't curse the accident, and looked around at the others in the room as they again considered the fate of Vladlena Lenyenko's adventurers.
Linzi brought the conversation back around to the centaurs to the east. A cyclops wizard... it seemed that exonerated the horse folk, "the plan does not change then." He remarked. "It would be good to make peaceable contact with the centaurs but holding Varnhold is our priority." but Linzi was right given what they knew of the notes left behind by Willas and this 'professor penrose' and what they did know about the Nomen centaurs in general
Late Sarenith 4712
Imperator Pax
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Late Sarenith 4712
Jaethal would have preferred to have been in charge... or rather in charge on the frontier. As it was she was sure that either of the failed Paladins could have maintained things without needing her to be physically present... but the undead elf remained within Shrikewall confident at least of the plan... besides they were probably just going to end up with some silver dragon or maybe two visiting.
That there was a plan for visiting dragons was something of an insanity in itself... but better that they did have one. It had something approaching the force of law, at least so far as the official regent of the barony was concerned.
She was confident that they would have answers soon, but there was no denying that she was impatient... to the point of tapping her foot... and she wasn't the only one. Jhod and Akiros had both returned from the Temple of the Elk they both carried word, if differing opinions, on the passage of Kellid tribes migrating to the west with any luck the different tribes would keep heading west into Numeria and beyond. So far they had largely bypassed Shrikewall choosing to keep going north west.
Erastil was an old human god but he was an old human god of agriculture which was something that the nomadic kellid tribes had less time for given their constant migrations, but they still paid respect to the largely completed, and restored, Taldan Temple of the Elk, and to the other Erastilian shrines in the area as they passed through to enter the glenbon.
They couldn't count on that to continue to remain the case given the reports other migrating from a more southernly root that would probably bring them to one of the lake crossing... and of course with it being high summer there were the continuing strife of the lizard folk tribes. It was true of course that Harrgulka and the trolls were useful in keeping the thick skins in line, but with the baron in the east, and a significant portion also deployed in the west there simply weren't the manpower to act against the belligerent lizards beyond what they were already doing.
It did give the trolls something to do though. Jaethal wasn't going to pretend that wasn't a boon to the realm, and of course made her job easier. Perlivash abruptly buzzing through the chamber doors was a new nuisance, but one she she expected for the easily excitable faerie dragon wizard. If the baron had returned then it more likely would have been one of the clergy, like Brother Vaclav, from the cathedral, so the chattering dragon likely meant someone else had arrived.
It was difficult to parse the rapid burbling of draconic speech the faerie dragon was carrying on with Mik Mek the Kobold, and the chorus of dragon was grating.
Following through the doors was a half elf not the more human red headed form of Shaoyu as she had expected, but she recognized the half elf figure as Eranex's preferred 'human form' even with the grey blue shawl she wore.
Jaethal straightened from her looming over the magical map, but Valerie beat her too it, "I am afraid the baron isn't present Lady Eranex." The blonde human noble remarked matter of factly. Not that Jaethal was going to call her out on it, right this moment, but Valerie was used to being the loveliest thing in the room... with the possible exception of Tristian. ... again Jaethal suspected the two humans might not have had enough celestial blood to transform them into Aasimar but they were surely nearly there. It was an entirely different sort of attractiveness than what distinguished the baron or his ward... or the Tiefling. The silver dragon though in half elf skin was competition though for Valerie in that department to be sure. It was the same sort of physical perfection in appearance.
"I am aware," She replied with a perfect curtsey, "It is my absence to apologize for, it is rare though to have leave to visit the domain of another of the eldest and I hoped to visit." The Silver Dragon remarked.
Valerie nodded, "The baron has gone to search for the location of the Silver Dragon Amvarean you spoke of, we expect an answer any day now." Because of course the baron's plan was to return to Varnhold by recalling to the Church of Erastil in Varnhold proper... just as in the event of an emergency the plan was to snatch back any of their people over the border to the Cathedral of Iomedae. The expense of that equipment in time more so than coin had meant that there was a limit on how large the responding party to the neighboring barony had been.
It was a purely reactionary measure though. Any travel to somewhere had to be conducted overland or by the river where that was an option. Jaethal as spymaster of the realm recognized that it would be advantageous to have options even if just fixed points to move by, and the baron had done the same... they just didn't have the resources to implement such right now.
"A slumbering ancient has awakened in the east and would seek to rebuild an empire long lost to the sands of time."
Lovely, Jaethal wanted to groan at the cryptic portent the dragon delivered. It wasn't surprising she supposed, she wondered what Maegar Varn had found, but the warning was late... obviously, the dragon had said awakened.
--
Akiros took the news as well as he could. Giants were a fact of life. They ranged all over Avistan, and frankly as it happened the former Paladin of Erastil was really more surprised that they hadn't encountered more giants than just Munguk. It was true he supposed that trolls were giant folk, but the news of some ancient cyclops monster stirring in the east was still alarming.
... normal giants were after all a big enough threat but that the Varnhold had managed to awaken some ancient threat could make an entire domain awaken. Maybe it was for the best that the baron's recourse was obvious to gather draconic allies against this ancient Iobarian menace.
The undead elf lord, Hallit didn't distinguish a ruler's gender in the word that meant lord, had assured that she would keep him apprised. The details she had shared were really too academic to suit his needs. Akiros didn't foresee a point but hadn't argued he would listen when she spoke of what she found. Jaethal had put the scholars and arcanists of the realm together to work uncovering what they could
Cyclops were a venerable race who had lost much to the starfall. Unlike the ancient elves they had not fled through planar gates, and thus their ancient empire had collapsed. Such had been the depths of their loss the giants' modern descendants knew less of Ghol Can and ancient Casmaron than human scholars. Their decline had been such that Iobaria was frequently though of as a human land as a result of the migration of different human tribes of various ethnicities.
Thus where once a great and powerful collection of empires had stood as rival to the elves, and who knew what other ancient powers in the time before the earth fall they were just as brutish and crude as most of the giant tribes and petty kingdoms that Akiros was familiar with. ... and if it had been modern cyclops coming from the steppes of Iobarian or from the caves that would have been one thing.
The notion of some ancient monster from the mists of history that, that was the real danger.
... So dragons, Akiros supposed again.
"Dragons," Kundal agreed nodding in agreement as if... that this most surely was the sensible response to such ancient monsters.
In the mean time Akiros looked to the mass of felt tents of Iobarian horse lords who were migrating towards Numeria heedless of the cyclops threat. In the mean time he had to handle matters with the many nomadic barbarians who at least so far continued to pass peacefully through the frontier as they moved west. "Do you believe them?" He asked Kundal as he put the sharpening stone away a razor edge to his sword.
It was a conversation about reincarnation. Reincarnation was an accepted part of most kellid spirituality and not unheard of among other barbarian tribes and races. That a hero might be reborn. Kundal was not a priest or a shaman, and his brows knit. "I think the Tiger Lords have a great new war leader. If he is the champion of Gorrum reborn? That I do not know." He replied non committal, "If he is so what? Our lord in Iron will expect him to be a valiant warrior and not rest on his laurels, he cannot depend on deeds from a past life. His sword should remain wet with the blood of hated foes."
The Tiger Lords though were mercenaries. They didn't really have hated enemies so far as Akiros understood. There were simply too many separate bands, tribes and other units within the great following that all claimed part of the Tiger Lords folk. If he were to guess the most likely vendetta a Tiger Lord had was with other Tiger Lords.
Armag 'Twice Born' and his call to arms would either neither need to find someone willing to pay coin for his services or start attacking those enemies the tribes of his growing confederation had made... or turn to simply raiding Numeria's neighbors.... which included Brevoy, or the River Kingdoms.
All this talk of Armag was something to bring to his grace when he returned from the east... the truth was Jaethal was dismissive of some barbarian claiming to be the reincarnation of an ancient hero of his tribe as little more than a political stunt. Kundal grunted stiffening in a posture that he could quickly fight from as he rested his hand on the haft of his weapon.
Akiros turned following the barbarian's eyes to another new arrival. He recognized the attire they were wearing as members of the brevic church of Shelyn, though he did not know them by sight he suspected he knew their names... or at least one of the perfumed fool's names. Akiros bristled... while he wasn't quite as tall as the baron Akiros Insmort was not a small man, that inch or two of difference was more than made up by his more muscular build... but these were Brevic aristocrats not kellid warriors. All the same though he stood up from the long table. It was time to find this Ser Fredero. It was hard to tell, Akiros guessed anyone of them probably could have done with a punch in the mouth... if looks alone were to be the judge.
He took a breath. These were not kellid warriors. He had an obligation to bring them to see the elf lord first, if she introduced them to the regent as they would no doubt request then that was her choice.
Jaethal would have preferred to have been in charge... or rather in charge on the frontier. As it was she was sure that either of the failed Paladins could have maintained things without needing her to be physically present... but the undead elf remained within Shrikewall confident at least of the plan... besides they were probably just going to end up with some silver dragon or maybe two visiting.
That there was a plan for visiting dragons was something of an insanity in itself... but better that they did have one. It had something approaching the force of law, at least so far as the official regent of the barony was concerned.
She was confident that they would have answers soon, but there was no denying that she was impatient... to the point of tapping her foot... and she wasn't the only one. Jhod and Akiros had both returned from the Temple of the Elk they both carried word, if differing opinions, on the passage of Kellid tribes migrating to the west with any luck the different tribes would keep heading west into Numeria and beyond. So far they had largely bypassed Shrikewall choosing to keep going north west.
Erastil was an old human god but he was an old human god of agriculture which was something that the nomadic kellid tribes had less time for given their constant migrations, but they still paid respect to the largely completed, and restored, Taldan Temple of the Elk, and to the other Erastilian shrines in the area as they passed through to enter the glenbon.
They couldn't count on that to continue to remain the case given the reports other migrating from a more southernly root that would probably bring them to one of the lake crossing... and of course with it being high summer there were the continuing strife of the lizard folk tribes. It was true of course that Harrgulka and the trolls were useful in keeping the thick skins in line, but with the baron in the east, and a significant portion also deployed in the west there simply weren't the manpower to act against the belligerent lizards beyond what they were already doing.
It did give the trolls something to do though. Jaethal wasn't going to pretend that wasn't a boon to the realm, and of course made her job easier. Perlivash abruptly buzzing through the chamber doors was a new nuisance, but one she she expected for the easily excitable faerie dragon wizard. If the baron had returned then it more likely would have been one of the clergy, like Brother Vaclav, from the cathedral, so the chattering dragon likely meant someone else had arrived.
It was difficult to parse the rapid burbling of draconic speech the faerie dragon was carrying on with Mik Mek the Kobold, and the chorus of dragon was grating.
Following through the doors was a half elf not the more human red headed form of Shaoyu as she had expected, but she recognized the half elf figure as Eranex's preferred 'human form' even with the grey blue shawl she wore.
Jaethal straightened from her looming over the magical map, but Valerie beat her too it, "I am afraid the baron isn't present Lady Eranex." The blonde human noble remarked matter of factly. Not that Jaethal was going to call her out on it, right this moment, but Valerie was used to being the loveliest thing in the room... with the possible exception of Tristian. ... again Jaethal suspected the two humans might not have had enough celestial blood to transform them into Aasimar but they were surely nearly there. It was an entirely different sort of attractiveness than what distinguished the baron or his ward... or the Tiefling. The silver dragon though in half elf skin was competition though for Valerie in that department to be sure. It was the same sort of physical perfection in appearance.
"I am aware," She replied with a perfect curtsey, "It is my absence to apologize for, it is rare though to have leave to visit the domain of another of the eldest and I hoped to visit." The Silver Dragon remarked.
Valerie nodded, "The baron has gone to search for the location of the Silver Dragon Amvarean you spoke of, we expect an answer any day now." Because of course the baron's plan was to return to Varnhold by recalling to the Church of Erastil in Varnhold proper... just as in the event of an emergency the plan was to snatch back any of their people over the border to the Cathedral of Iomedae. The expense of that equipment in time more so than coin had meant that there was a limit on how large the responding party to the neighboring barony had been.
It was a purely reactionary measure though. Any travel to somewhere had to be conducted overland or by the river where that was an option. Jaethal as spymaster of the realm recognized that it would be advantageous to have options even if just fixed points to move by, and the baron had done the same... they just didn't have the resources to implement such right now.
"A slumbering ancient has awakened in the east and would seek to rebuild an empire long lost to the sands of time."
Lovely, Jaethal wanted to groan at the cryptic portent the dragon delivered. It wasn't surprising she supposed, she wondered what Maegar Varn had found, but the warning was late... obviously, the dragon had said awakened.
--
Akiros took the news as well as he could. Giants were a fact of life. They ranged all over Avistan, and frankly as it happened the former Paladin of Erastil was really more surprised that they hadn't encountered more giants than just Munguk. It was true he supposed that trolls were giant folk, but the news of some ancient cyclops monster stirring in the east was still alarming.
... normal giants were after all a big enough threat but that the Varnhold had managed to awaken some ancient threat could make an entire domain awaken. Maybe it was for the best that the baron's recourse was obvious to gather draconic allies against this ancient Iobarian menace.
The undead elf lord, Hallit didn't distinguish a ruler's gender in the word that meant lord, had assured that she would keep him apprised. The details she had shared were really too academic to suit his needs. Akiros didn't foresee a point but hadn't argued he would listen when she spoke of what she found. Jaethal had put the scholars and arcanists of the realm together to work uncovering what they could
Cyclops were a venerable race who had lost much to the starfall. Unlike the ancient elves they had not fled through planar gates, and thus their ancient empire had collapsed. Such had been the depths of their loss the giants' modern descendants knew less of Ghol Can and ancient Casmaron than human scholars. Their decline had been such that Iobaria was frequently though of as a human land as a result of the migration of different human tribes of various ethnicities.
Thus where once a great and powerful collection of empires had stood as rival to the elves, and who knew what other ancient powers in the time before the earth fall they were just as brutish and crude as most of the giant tribes and petty kingdoms that Akiros was familiar with. ... and if it had been modern cyclops coming from the steppes of Iobarian or from the caves that would have been one thing.
The notion of some ancient monster from the mists of history that, that was the real danger.
... So dragons, Akiros supposed again.
"Dragons," Kundal agreed nodding in agreement as if... that this most surely was the sensible response to such ancient monsters.
In the mean time Akiros looked to the mass of felt tents of Iobarian horse lords who were migrating towards Numeria heedless of the cyclops threat. In the mean time he had to handle matters with the many nomadic barbarians who at least so far continued to pass peacefully through the frontier as they moved west. "Do you believe them?" He asked Kundal as he put the sharpening stone away a razor edge to his sword.
It was a conversation about reincarnation. Reincarnation was an accepted part of most kellid spirituality and not unheard of among other barbarian tribes and races. That a hero might be reborn. Kundal was not a priest or a shaman, and his brows knit. "I think the Tiger Lords have a great new war leader. If he is the champion of Gorrum reborn? That I do not know." He replied non committal, "If he is so what? Our lord in Iron will expect him to be a valiant warrior and not rest on his laurels, he cannot depend on deeds from a past life. His sword should remain wet with the blood of hated foes."
The Tiger Lords though were mercenaries. They didn't really have hated enemies so far as Akiros understood. There were simply too many separate bands, tribes and other units within the great following that all claimed part of the Tiger Lords folk. If he were to guess the most likely vendetta a Tiger Lord had was with other Tiger Lords.
Armag 'Twice Born' and his call to arms would either neither need to find someone willing to pay coin for his services or start attacking those enemies the tribes of his growing confederation had made... or turn to simply raiding Numeria's neighbors.... which included Brevoy, or the River Kingdoms.
All this talk of Armag was something to bring to his grace when he returned from the east... the truth was Jaethal was dismissive of some barbarian claiming to be the reincarnation of an ancient hero of his tribe as little more than a political stunt. Kundal grunted stiffening in a posture that he could quickly fight from as he rested his hand on the haft of his weapon.
Akiros turned following the barbarian's eyes to another new arrival. He recognized the attire they were wearing as members of the brevic church of Shelyn, though he did not know them by sight he suspected he knew their names... or at least one of the perfumed fool's names. Akiros bristled... while he wasn't quite as tall as the baron Akiros Insmort was not a small man, that inch or two of difference was more than made up by his more muscular build... but these were Brevic aristocrats not kellid warriors. All the same though he stood up from the long table. It was time to find this Ser Fredero. It was hard to tell, Akiros guessed anyone of them probably could have done with a punch in the mouth... if looks alone were to be the judge.
He took a breath. These were not kellid warriors. He had an obligation to bring them to see the elf lord first, if she introduced them to the regent as they would no doubt request then that was her choice.
Last edited:
Erastus 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Erastus 4712
Eire was getting used to missing Archerfeast. The realm always became too busy for one reason or another to observe the Erastilian holy day, and this year was to be no different. That much was clear. The flight had taken them seventy odd miles south deep into the uncharted reaches of the Tors of Levenies. Magic had lead them to a great entrance into the mountain side, and the cave's entrance followed into a wide and deep tunnel into the mountain side hundred of feet deep.
He sat looking northward from the mountain side with the cave entrance looming behind them. They weren't quite prepared to leave yet. The entry way lead to what had been the nest of Amvarean. Had was the word. He had needed to expend a potent spell given what they had found, but they had needed answers.
Had, because Amvarean had been slain some time ago by the ancient dragon Ilthuliak. A great wyrm of a black dragon... not that he had known the extent of the threat, but he had picked up a smattering of black scales from the central vaulted chamber... and he had seen the damage the dragon's acid breath had scoured into the cave walls.
Ilthuliak had in her youth raided the lands between Numeria and Casmaron and grown into a powerful specimen of her breed. No one had lamented her disappearance, or considered what it meant... but word of existence alone was something Eire had cause to consider.
The black dragon wyrm had clearly looted the younger dragon's cave after their battle... or at least he assumed that was why it was bare of Amvarean's mortal possessions. The adult silver dragon had been dead during the time that Vanrhold had been founded, and when it had disappeared, which was unfortunate, but reason to remain in the cave after her defeat here and with strength restored, and rested they were nearly prepared to return to Varnhold.
Amvarean though had concurred with his expectation that the Nomen centaurs, who she recognized as an offshoot of the large Rashalka 'Thundering Hooves' lineage, would not have been capable of doing what had been done to Varnhold.
He looked high into the grey clouds of the sky and to the white ish sun peaking out, and then stood as the adolescent form of Shaoyu and the half elf form Amvarean had chosen approached. He exhaled, invoked, and in a column of great fire they vanished into the heavens.
The whirring column of sunlight disappeared around them as they appeared looking at the stained glass façade of the Church of Erastil in Varnhold. Eire hoped that the horned god took no offense at his decision to recall into the church, but there was much to do.
He might not have found any leads on Varnhold but it was not a fruitless trip. "Eranex." Amvarean moved to greet the prescient appearance of the other half elf woman standing in the door way with a surprised looking Amiri along for the ride. The kellid warrior looked a little gobsmacked at their sudden arrival. Eire had suspected of course that Eranex's ties to Amvarean were more than simple association. Silver dragons were social of course, but the two being half sisters made a great deal of sense in terms of common range and their belief in mutual reliance on the other.
Amvarean had lived in the region and could tell them a great deal about its history, and its contemporary , if not individuals, than the social groups, and its interesting sites. She had long memories of flying through the dunsward from the Tors in the 'west', from her perspective, to the Maw in the north east, but she had ultimately chosen to settle in the cave she had found in the Tors near, relatively speaking, where her father had made his lair. She'd also made mention of a tribe of elves who lived to the west by her reckoning but what Eire interpretted as to be north east of Mivon's borders. Though he wasn't entirely sure how north, whether the elves were North of the Mivon Sellen river which formed the nominal geographic feature that was his southern border in the east.
The Mivon Sellen apparently flowed through a valley in the southern Tors. Its moniker of 'Sellen' was well earned apparently its source waters were well far in the north winding through the dunsward to the the great mountain chain further east in Casmaron proper. There was no proper map of what she described to him, Iobaria to the east was basically unmapped, just empty space so far as the civilized nations of Avistan were concerned. There was no actual coherent agreement on how far it was from say Restov to the Castrovin see some said three hundred miles, others wildly declared it to be perhaps double that. It seemed an extreme difference, but good maps were hard to come by.
"We should adjourn to Maegar's hold," He remarked, and they could handle introductions there. It would be simpler to introduce everyone, and deal with any fallout.
--
He found himself standing in front of the table where he had been several days before. The map was rough. Maegar had so far as the brevic chart of boundaries was concerned the largest territorial expanse because well they didn't care how far to the east he went if he could actually... or atleast they didn't care right now, if Varnhold had actually managed to start really doing that Eire suspected then they might care.
Whatever the case Maegar's territorial expansion, and settlement had been somewhat hemmed in by geographic factors, his territorial boundaries, and the natives to the east. The centaurs in the north had long been a nuisance to Brevoy and obviously Brevoy had hoped that Maegar would deal with them in time but the lord of Varnhold had needed a defensible settlement first. So he'd settled on his western border and begun working his way south, but that also meant putting him in contact with the native human populations of nomadic iobarians and other ethnicities, which did include Kellids and of course non humans.
"What of the bow we took from spriggans?" He asked. "You said you knew it."
"It is from the centaurs. Skybolt is a relic of their people."
He nodded. The darkwood longbow hadn't seemed likely to be of Spriggan manufacture, their size changing or not, but the provenance had not been a priority. There were still other matters to concern themselves with... and once they rescued Maegar they could investigate what had appeared to ben an elf gate in the south west, or the massive bleached and overgrown bones of some primordial draconic specimen, and indeed the Nomen centaurs later.
With Amvarean to confirm Willas Gunderson's notes, and other reference material Vordakai's island lurked in the midsts of the Little Sellen River, high in the hills of the western Tors. They would deal with that first, Vordakai was responsible for the disappearance of Varnhold... and they couldn't leave that unresolved. At the same time the spriggans had moved in quickly, very quickly.
In the feudal ideal, not necessarily so much as in practice, but in the ideal the core of soldiers were professionals. It wasn't that Maegar's settled portion of the Varnling host were all knights, but they should have all had the ability to furnish good armor, good weapons and act at drill as heavy infantry. If Eire were honest the Varnling Host should have been the most powerful conventional military of the three baronies and that might have gone quite a ways to explain granting Maegar, 'Issian' or not, the largest domain. "We have two priorities, brokering peace with the Centaurs, and dealing with the threat." ... and finding Maegar. In fact he hoped that there might have been settlements of the Varnhold not effected, but he frankly doubted it. Vordakai had somehow swept up all the villagers all the way to the border ... he wondered if the ancient liche had used the domain's own maps. "We'll go to this Valley of the Dead, Amiri I need you to lead an overture to the Cyclops and find out whatever you can, take Linzi with you." He stilled the protests. "No we need to move quickly I want to be ready to move south all things considered I want to resolve this before the half moon," The somal last quarter, "or failing that the new moon. That means carrying word to the centaurs and telling them about the threat.
The somal last quarter would be three weeks before the Inheiritor's Ascendance on the first of Arodus. He needed to finish and return home and preside over his own responsibilities to the realm.... or if they couldn't muster a larger expedition to scour the varnhold and explore for answers, but he didn't think that would be necessary with Amvarean's wings... but if it cam to that he hoped that they would be able to call on Eranex to assist as well... but for the moment the sisters needed a moment to reaquaint... and no doubt speak of whatever threat the Black Dragon posed.
--
Notes: The difference between the Varnhold Vanishing and Troll trouble is that the latter has a lot more kingdom building because it occurs over a much longer time frame. Varnhold Vanishing as an arc will be shorter b ecause it takes place over really just the summer of 4712
Additionally with the 1st Edition AP its particularly glaring how small a scale the book puts things at in terms of population. I'm not saying the Varnling Host especially if only part of the company settled in Varnhold should be ten thousand men, but certainly Varnhold should in canon be larger than it is IMO... and that is reflected with Maegar having a larger population that is missing.
Eire was getting used to missing Archerfeast. The realm always became too busy for one reason or another to observe the Erastilian holy day, and this year was to be no different. That much was clear. The flight had taken them seventy odd miles south deep into the uncharted reaches of the Tors of Levenies. Magic had lead them to a great entrance into the mountain side, and the cave's entrance followed into a wide and deep tunnel into the mountain side hundred of feet deep.
He sat looking northward from the mountain side with the cave entrance looming behind them. They weren't quite prepared to leave yet. The entry way lead to what had been the nest of Amvarean. Had was the word. He had needed to expend a potent spell given what they had found, but they had needed answers.
Had, because Amvarean had been slain some time ago by the ancient dragon Ilthuliak. A great wyrm of a black dragon... not that he had known the extent of the threat, but he had picked up a smattering of black scales from the central vaulted chamber... and he had seen the damage the dragon's acid breath had scoured into the cave walls.
Ilthuliak had in her youth raided the lands between Numeria and Casmaron and grown into a powerful specimen of her breed. No one had lamented her disappearance, or considered what it meant... but word of existence alone was something Eire had cause to consider.
The black dragon wyrm had clearly looted the younger dragon's cave after their battle... or at least he assumed that was why it was bare of Amvarean's mortal possessions. The adult silver dragon had been dead during the time that Vanrhold had been founded, and when it had disappeared, which was unfortunate, but reason to remain in the cave after her defeat here and with strength restored, and rested they were nearly prepared to return to Varnhold.
Amvarean though had concurred with his expectation that the Nomen centaurs, who she recognized as an offshoot of the large Rashalka 'Thundering Hooves' lineage, would not have been capable of doing what had been done to Varnhold.
He looked high into the grey clouds of the sky and to the white ish sun peaking out, and then stood as the adolescent form of Shaoyu and the half elf form Amvarean had chosen approached. He exhaled, invoked, and in a column of great fire they vanished into the heavens.
The whirring column of sunlight disappeared around them as they appeared looking at the stained glass façade of the Church of Erastil in Varnhold. Eire hoped that the horned god took no offense at his decision to recall into the church, but there was much to do.
He might not have found any leads on Varnhold but it was not a fruitless trip. "Eranex." Amvarean moved to greet the prescient appearance of the other half elf woman standing in the door way with a surprised looking Amiri along for the ride. The kellid warrior looked a little gobsmacked at their sudden arrival. Eire had suspected of course that Eranex's ties to Amvarean were more than simple association. Silver dragons were social of course, but the two being half sisters made a great deal of sense in terms of common range and their belief in mutual reliance on the other.
Amvarean had lived in the region and could tell them a great deal about its history, and its contemporary , if not individuals, than the social groups, and its interesting sites. She had long memories of flying through the dunsward from the Tors in the 'west', from her perspective, to the Maw in the north east, but she had ultimately chosen to settle in the cave she had found in the Tors near, relatively speaking, where her father had made his lair. She'd also made mention of a tribe of elves who lived to the west by her reckoning but what Eire interpretted as to be north east of Mivon's borders. Though he wasn't entirely sure how north, whether the elves were North of the Mivon Sellen river which formed the nominal geographic feature that was his southern border in the east.
The Mivon Sellen apparently flowed through a valley in the southern Tors. Its moniker of 'Sellen' was well earned apparently its source waters were well far in the north winding through the dunsward to the the great mountain chain further east in Casmaron proper. There was no proper map of what she described to him, Iobaria to the east was basically unmapped, just empty space so far as the civilized nations of Avistan were concerned. There was no actual coherent agreement on how far it was from say Restov to the Castrovin see some said three hundred miles, others wildly declared it to be perhaps double that. It seemed an extreme difference, but good maps were hard to come by.
"We should adjourn to Maegar's hold," He remarked, and they could handle introductions there. It would be simpler to introduce everyone, and deal with any fallout.
--
He found himself standing in front of the table where he had been several days before. The map was rough. Maegar had so far as the brevic chart of boundaries was concerned the largest territorial expanse because well they didn't care how far to the east he went if he could actually... or atleast they didn't care right now, if Varnhold had actually managed to start really doing that Eire suspected then they might care.
Whatever the case Maegar's territorial expansion, and settlement had been somewhat hemmed in by geographic factors, his territorial boundaries, and the natives to the east. The centaurs in the north had long been a nuisance to Brevoy and obviously Brevoy had hoped that Maegar would deal with them in time but the lord of Varnhold had needed a defensible settlement first. So he'd settled on his western border and begun working his way south, but that also meant putting him in contact with the native human populations of nomadic iobarians and other ethnicities, which did include Kellids and of course non humans.
"What of the bow we took from spriggans?" He asked. "You said you knew it."
"It is from the centaurs. Skybolt is a relic of their people."
He nodded. The darkwood longbow hadn't seemed likely to be of Spriggan manufacture, their size changing or not, but the provenance had not been a priority. There were still other matters to concern themselves with... and once they rescued Maegar they could investigate what had appeared to ben an elf gate in the south west, or the massive bleached and overgrown bones of some primordial draconic specimen, and indeed the Nomen centaurs later.
With Amvarean to confirm Willas Gunderson's notes, and other reference material Vordakai's island lurked in the midsts of the Little Sellen River, high in the hills of the western Tors. They would deal with that first, Vordakai was responsible for the disappearance of Varnhold... and they couldn't leave that unresolved. At the same time the spriggans had moved in quickly, very quickly.
In the feudal ideal, not necessarily so much as in practice, but in the ideal the core of soldiers were professionals. It wasn't that Maegar's settled portion of the Varnling host were all knights, but they should have all had the ability to furnish good armor, good weapons and act at drill as heavy infantry. If Eire were honest the Varnling Host should have been the most powerful conventional military of the three baronies and that might have gone quite a ways to explain granting Maegar, 'Issian' or not, the largest domain. "We have two priorities, brokering peace with the Centaurs, and dealing with the threat." ... and finding Maegar. In fact he hoped that there might have been settlements of the Varnhold not effected, but he frankly doubted it. Vordakai had somehow swept up all the villagers all the way to the border ... he wondered if the ancient liche had used the domain's own maps. "We'll go to this Valley of the Dead, Amiri I need you to lead an overture to the Cyclops and find out whatever you can, take Linzi with you." He stilled the protests. "No we need to move quickly I want to be ready to move south all things considered I want to resolve this before the half moon," The somal last quarter, "or failing that the new moon. That means carrying word to the centaurs and telling them about the threat.
The somal last quarter would be three weeks before the Inheiritor's Ascendance on the first of Arodus. He needed to finish and return home and preside over his own responsibilities to the realm.... or if they couldn't muster a larger expedition to scour the varnhold and explore for answers, but he didn't think that would be necessary with Amvarean's wings... but if it cam to that he hoped that they would be able to call on Eranex to assist as well... but for the moment the sisters needed a moment to reaquaint... and no doubt speak of whatever threat the Black Dragon posed.
--
Notes: The difference between the Varnhold Vanishing and Troll trouble is that the latter has a lot more kingdom building because it occurs over a much longer time frame. Varnhold Vanishing as an arc will be shorter b ecause it takes place over really just the summer of 4712
Additionally with the 1st Edition AP its particularly glaring how small a scale the book puts things at in terms of population. I'm not saying the Varnling Host especially if only part of the company settled in Varnhold should be ten thousand men, but certainly Varnhold should in canon be larger than it is IMO... and that is reflected with Maegar having a larger population that is missing.
Erastus 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Erastus 4712
The omens had been bad. Especially since they had been so imprecise.
This age was... Vordakai had attempted to test to see if he had simply made a mistake somewhere... but no something about this new era he had awoken to find himself in had comprised the reliability of oracular power. Prophecy no longer worked as it should have. He had attempted to compensate for local possible disturbances in the thaumosphere... but that didn't seem to be the problem... or at least not the principle one.
The atrophied lich weighed what he knew, and what he could speculate on. Obviously things had developed precipitously since the great cataclysm. What the humans had taken to naming the Earthfall. Obviously the elves fleeing through the gateways might have contributed as well... but his interrogations suggested that the death of one of the human gods seemed to have effected prophecy for most of the world significantly more recently.
That information had only encouraged him that the humans would be easy to subjugate. That it would be possible to erect a new empire... he had scryed his surroundings to be certain... after all in his weakened state he recognized he would need time even to subjugate the horse flesh of the steppe nearby the descendants of ancient barbarians who had been a nuisance ten thousand years ago. The lands of his home were overgrown with primitive barbarians ruled by simple metal weapons.
Nothing to be overly concerned about. To the north were more humans, but scarcely more developed. Certainly inferior magically, and artistically than the humans of his era. East, North, South likewise had proven a disappointment... there was nothing close in that direction perhaps far far south but there was no sign of Ghol Gan or of the human societies which had existed nor of the serpent folk either. Those were gone, and while there might been successor states the last cardinal direction remained.
To the west where the boundaries of this world and another magical plane came perilously close to one another, and frequently overlapping was a magical storm. Certainly the sort of thing that would have required him to compensate for any influences on his auguries, but knowing about it he could have compensated... the death of this 'Aroden' god had the more profound effect on damaging the foresight.
... so it had been back to interrogating the thief and his master.
Which only of course raised more questions. The humans could tell them nothing but myths and legends of the fall of Koloran. Koloran which had been founded by expatriates and exiles hoping to escape GholGan's fall into madness and debauchery by fleeing into the distant north... but given the cataclysm of the 'Earthfall' it made since... he couldn't recall much of the period so overshadowed was his fragmented memories of the very end... treachery, betrayal, blades in the darkness.
... but he knew enough to recognize that amidst the petty games of the northern barbarians who had carved their little fiefs there was a collection of oddities. Both thief, and petty lordling had independently spoken of the community of the western lands. An undead elf stood out among the recollections of the humans... but not limited to just a small community of living elves, there were native outsiders, and at least one other sentient undead.
The Cyclops moved across the faded mosaic tiles of his tomb and sat down across from the trapped human tyrant. He had grown fond of these discussions. It was true that Lord Maegar wasn't the most adroit gamesman, but the human was new to the game of kings and while it shared similarities to this 'chess' game it was not the same.
... there was a chance he would have a new opponent soon. He knew that the western forces had crossed the river. His raven familiar had told them seen them moving in. Not that he hadn't already known some about Lord Maegar's more cordial equal.
He had heard much over the course of these games... about these recent troll troubles, and their resolution. About the young dragon that was the neighboring ruler's ward. Vordakai was intrigued.
So the game began, and continued until his wards, registered the sudden surge of magic to the south. It wasn't someone attempting to breach the defenses. No. Unfortunately most of his tomb's defenses had long since been drained of power by the wear of time... the present oracular wardings were designed to seek out signs of potentially other spellcasters.
Voradakai recognized that in his present state, he lacked the ability to rely on the phlacterary to cheat death. He couldn't... the time he had spent in torpor had rendered his power fragile, weakened him. "Let us see then." He remarked paused to waved skeletal fingers in the ebony astrolabe that acted as a focus. It spun and crafted an image of the mountains to the south, slowly coalescing into the view of a broad high ceiling cavern.
This was far to the south of anywhere Lord Maegar Varn of Varnhold had explored. He had provided, as had the Thief a description of the neighboring feudal hierarch. It really had been a detailed, Vordakai had a talent for sculpting the people he met, a respectable hobby in Koloran the Koloran that had been, but a second hand description rarely did justice... and that was truer here more so than most.
It was true that Maegar Varn wasn't short by human standards, neither was his counterpart. Humans didn't, or at least these didn't, chose by something as base as height but it was hard to reject that certainly most human leaders were tall by their standards. Height though was only part of it. Vordakai any cyclops was taller still, but physical bearing was only a fraction of the ruler.
Vordakai hissed pulling a breath into atrophied lungs as the peerless diamond dissolved into a fine dust as the silver eyed figure in the image cast the spell. In the cave death was undone. Remains split and broken were replaced by seemless living tissue, bones covered in sinewy muscles and bright silver scales. A missing arm, and head restored.
An Adult Silver Dragon.
"Amvarean," A greeting, no a name he recognized the speech as draconic, "we are Eire of Shrikewall. I carry words of greeting and friendship from your sister."
The bound human tyrant gloated from his side of the game board as Vordakai watched the dragon fold her wings, and morph into a half elf shape. The image wavered and he ground his teeth as it dissolved into a smoky haze. His weakened state wouldn't allow him to maintain a connection for remote viewing of the source of the magic without expending precious reserves of magic.
He cut off Lord Maegar's gloating with a sharp correction of the human's faulty education on spellcraft. "It was not raise dead. That was a spell of true resurrection." He supposed that the human didn't properly appreciate the technical differences and distinctions that distinguished one from the other. The downside of non magicals, especially as rulers of a domain.
It was the equivalent of comparing some apprentice's ability to raising simple skeletons or ghouls to a master lifting fell knights into his service. There was a significant difference in the power and mastery of magic required.
Worse still was he had known through his conversations with the Varnhold's ruling elite about the first dragon. The neighboring tyrant's red ward. He supposed technically there was a possible second in the dragon's mother, but he had not been prepared to count her definitively. A third obviously existed in the sister to this one, and now a fourth, a second silver obviously, which given their cold breath he could contend with, but was still another potent spellcaster to reckon on the scales.
His modern kin. The modern cyclopes were a pathetic remnant of his day. It was hard to even begin to compare modern giants to their illustrious forbearers. The humans were similarly much reduced... after all the Thassilionians had brought lesser giants to heel, hadn't they, and they're magical talents had been respectable. The elves had run rather than stay and face the Earthfall, and were still much reduced. That left one last ancient power to contend with. He'd yet seen the modern serpent folk, but he doubted they had escaped.
The Dragons. Maegar Varn's court wizard had mentioned a dragon plague had swept Iobaria in the past, which had reduced their numbers, but he had also mentioned the sixth king of the mountains to their south, and the red dragons who had helped found Brevoy two centuries earlier.
The cyclop lifted his game piece and with his red eye gleaming moved it forward. "Our neighbor from the west has yet to arrive, and so this game should continue to its conclusion. I believe that makes it your turn."
The omens had been bad. Especially since they had been so imprecise.
This age was... Vordakai had attempted to test to see if he had simply made a mistake somewhere... but no something about this new era he had awoken to find himself in had comprised the reliability of oracular power. Prophecy no longer worked as it should have. He had attempted to compensate for local possible disturbances in the thaumosphere... but that didn't seem to be the problem... or at least not the principle one.
The atrophied lich weighed what he knew, and what he could speculate on. Obviously things had developed precipitously since the great cataclysm. What the humans had taken to naming the Earthfall. Obviously the elves fleeing through the gateways might have contributed as well... but his interrogations suggested that the death of one of the human gods seemed to have effected prophecy for most of the world significantly more recently.
That information had only encouraged him that the humans would be easy to subjugate. That it would be possible to erect a new empire... he had scryed his surroundings to be certain... after all in his weakened state he recognized he would need time even to subjugate the horse flesh of the steppe nearby the descendants of ancient barbarians who had been a nuisance ten thousand years ago. The lands of his home were overgrown with primitive barbarians ruled by simple metal weapons.
Nothing to be overly concerned about. To the north were more humans, but scarcely more developed. Certainly inferior magically, and artistically than the humans of his era. East, North, South likewise had proven a disappointment... there was nothing close in that direction perhaps far far south but there was no sign of Ghol Gan or of the human societies which had existed nor of the serpent folk either. Those were gone, and while there might been successor states the last cardinal direction remained.
To the west where the boundaries of this world and another magical plane came perilously close to one another, and frequently overlapping was a magical storm. Certainly the sort of thing that would have required him to compensate for any influences on his auguries, but knowing about it he could have compensated... the death of this 'Aroden' god had the more profound effect on damaging the foresight.
... so it had been back to interrogating the thief and his master.
Which only of course raised more questions. The humans could tell them nothing but myths and legends of the fall of Koloran. Koloran which had been founded by expatriates and exiles hoping to escape GholGan's fall into madness and debauchery by fleeing into the distant north... but given the cataclysm of the 'Earthfall' it made since... he couldn't recall much of the period so overshadowed was his fragmented memories of the very end... treachery, betrayal, blades in the darkness.
... but he knew enough to recognize that amidst the petty games of the northern barbarians who had carved their little fiefs there was a collection of oddities. Both thief, and petty lordling had independently spoken of the community of the western lands. An undead elf stood out among the recollections of the humans... but not limited to just a small community of living elves, there were native outsiders, and at least one other sentient undead.
The Cyclops moved across the faded mosaic tiles of his tomb and sat down across from the trapped human tyrant. He had grown fond of these discussions. It was true that Lord Maegar wasn't the most adroit gamesman, but the human was new to the game of kings and while it shared similarities to this 'chess' game it was not the same.
... there was a chance he would have a new opponent soon. He knew that the western forces had crossed the river. His raven familiar had told them seen them moving in. Not that he hadn't already known some about Lord Maegar's more cordial equal.
He had heard much over the course of these games... about these recent troll troubles, and their resolution. About the young dragon that was the neighboring ruler's ward. Vordakai was intrigued.
So the game began, and continued until his wards, registered the sudden surge of magic to the south. It wasn't someone attempting to breach the defenses. No. Unfortunately most of his tomb's defenses had long since been drained of power by the wear of time... the present oracular wardings were designed to seek out signs of potentially other spellcasters.
Voradakai recognized that in his present state, he lacked the ability to rely on the phlacterary to cheat death. He couldn't... the time he had spent in torpor had rendered his power fragile, weakened him. "Let us see then." He remarked paused to waved skeletal fingers in the ebony astrolabe that acted as a focus. It spun and crafted an image of the mountains to the south, slowly coalescing into the view of a broad high ceiling cavern.
This was far to the south of anywhere Lord Maegar Varn of Varnhold had explored. He had provided, as had the Thief a description of the neighboring feudal hierarch. It really had been a detailed, Vordakai had a talent for sculpting the people he met, a respectable hobby in Koloran the Koloran that had been, but a second hand description rarely did justice... and that was truer here more so than most.
It was true that Maegar Varn wasn't short by human standards, neither was his counterpart. Humans didn't, or at least these didn't, chose by something as base as height but it was hard to reject that certainly most human leaders were tall by their standards. Height though was only part of it. Vordakai any cyclops was taller still, but physical bearing was only a fraction of the ruler.
Vordakai hissed pulling a breath into atrophied lungs as the peerless diamond dissolved into a fine dust as the silver eyed figure in the image cast the spell. In the cave death was undone. Remains split and broken were replaced by seemless living tissue, bones covered in sinewy muscles and bright silver scales. A missing arm, and head restored.
An Adult Silver Dragon.
"Amvarean," A greeting, no a name he recognized the speech as draconic, "we are Eire of Shrikewall. I carry words of greeting and friendship from your sister."
The bound human tyrant gloated from his side of the game board as Vordakai watched the dragon fold her wings, and morph into a half elf shape. The image wavered and he ground his teeth as it dissolved into a smoky haze. His weakened state wouldn't allow him to maintain a connection for remote viewing of the source of the magic without expending precious reserves of magic.
He cut off Lord Maegar's gloating with a sharp correction of the human's faulty education on spellcraft. "It was not raise dead. That was a spell of true resurrection." He supposed that the human didn't properly appreciate the technical differences and distinctions that distinguished one from the other. The downside of non magicals, especially as rulers of a domain.
It was the equivalent of comparing some apprentice's ability to raising simple skeletons or ghouls to a master lifting fell knights into his service. There was a significant difference in the power and mastery of magic required.
Worse still was he had known through his conversations with the Varnhold's ruling elite about the first dragon. The neighboring tyrant's red ward. He supposed technically there was a possible second in the dragon's mother, but he had not been prepared to count her definitively. A third obviously existed in the sister to this one, and now a fourth, a second silver obviously, which given their cold breath he could contend with, but was still another potent spellcaster to reckon on the scales.
His modern kin. The modern cyclopes were a pathetic remnant of his day. It was hard to even begin to compare modern giants to their illustrious forbearers. The humans were similarly much reduced... after all the Thassilionians had brought lesser giants to heel, hadn't they, and they're magical talents had been respectable. The elves had run rather than stay and face the Earthfall, and were still much reduced. That left one last ancient power to contend with. He'd yet seen the modern serpent folk, but he doubted they had escaped.
The Dragons. Maegar Varn's court wizard had mentioned a dragon plague had swept Iobaria in the past, which had reduced their numbers, but he had also mentioned the sixth king of the mountains to their south, and the red dragons who had helped found Brevoy two centuries earlier.
The cyclop lifted his game piece and with his red eye gleaming moved it forward. "Our neighbor from the west has yet to arrive, and so this game should continue to its conclusion. I believe that makes it your turn."
Erastus 4712
Imperator Pax
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Erastus 4712
The shadow moved. It was the only warning they had. One moment they had been contemplating Maegar Varn's amateur's fascination in Willas's far ranging archaeological misadventures as recorded in the baronial minutes, and then things had become excitable.
Claw tipped pale hands extended from the inky black cloud of smoke. There had been no warning. There were not any missing sentries or guards. At least not at the last check in. The Soul Eater lunged forward aiming at the dragon in half elf guise. The resulting crash sent books and notes flying as the table splintered in the sudden commotion, and then melee.
Assuming they could rescue Maegar Varn he was willing to take it on faith that the other baron would forgive them the damage his court had incurred from fighting demons as Amvarean shrieked as the shadow demon's claws raked her arm. She released a blast of white wintery cold in response.
Soul Stealers as it happened were not immune or resistant to cold. The adult silver dragon still in humanoid form. Amvarean had a different mother, and thus none of the fae abilities of her half sister possessed, but Amvarean was older than Eranex. The magical ryme of frost literally froze and broke off parts of the solidified shadows.
Eire doubted the daemon would be able to weather a second attack of that magnitude. All the same he regretted that he had already dispatched Amiri and her party to seek out and find the Nomen centaurs under a flag of truce. He hoped that they would succeed in convincing the Centaurs to parley, and make an appearance and that they wouldn't be endangered by the journey. Maegar had not pursued his northern frontier particularly strenuously, he didn't have the manpower for it, not truly.
His hand curled around the longsword and unsheathed it wreathing it in white fire. There was the possibility that another of these things had been sent after Amiri and her party which was a problem. The daemon had no head, he supposed he could aim to remove a limb, but short of hacking the monster to pieces he couldn't be sure of a way to kill it... assuming that would kill it, but banishing it back to its native plane would be fine as well.
He lunged forward a curtain of divine flame ripped across the room a cone forty feet wide slammed into the clawed wielding shadow as Shaoyu unsheathed her own sword. It would only occur later, with the benefit of additional facts, that Amiri had never even been a consideration of a potential target. She wasn't a spellcaster. Ironically Tristian or Jaethal would have been more likely to be targetted than most of the others.
If not Amvarean, he would have been the other priority, but Vordakai had targeted the resurected dragon first hoping perhaps to find a weak link, a chink in the dragon so freshly returned from the dead ... a target of opportunity selected for his conjured assassin./
... and also a testament to how far in power Vordakai the lich had apparently fallen that this was his best option.
The fight lasted less than a minute. Even alone Amvarean could have succeeded with help and with divine magic to remove the deleterious effects of the insidious claws of the daemon it was over quickly with no permanent damage done. That was the limitation of Vordakai's choice the soul eater wasn't the sort of summoned minion to be an effective team player. If they had been within the withered lich's lair perhaps a good distraction but it had been given Amvarean's name to seek out the dragon instead.
Still he looked around turning a flaming gaze to the surrounding searching for other enemies to appear even as the guards arrived. "There seems no other intruder your grace." One of the Armingers declared.
"Indeed." He agreed. "Amvarean if you would accede to it, fly to Amiri and inform her of the situation here." He wasn't sure that a communication spell would be sufficient, and truthfully, "I need you to carry word also on my behalf to Restov." further north.
"But the lich." She began to protest.
He was already weighing the prospect of caution, and turned, "Shaoyu if Vordakai is preparing an army we will not press the attack, do you understand? We will return and mass our own forces. The lich will kneel or be knelt, but it may require time to gather our own host." He was surprised, pleasantly surprised that the young dragon nodded and agreed.
He also knew that Amvarean was relieved as well. He had been concerned one or both dragons would protest. That there would be call for action or for greater caution. They needed to know more about the valley of the dead. He hoped there wasn't an army of the undead... but that was one thing they had seen no sign of.
There was no shambling zombie horde. Not humans not cyclopes... no undead minions. This was the first clear action against them that he had been able to ascertain. Tristian ... he was pretty certain had turn undead and that would be useful, at a more useful letter than many of the other cleric... he certainly wasn't going to bring Jhod over the border into this mess. Not into a warzone... the priest of Erastil could potentially be brought in to supervise relief and aid parties after fighting, but not before.
Would he need to bring Jaethal in?
He recognized he would need to weigh his options carefully.
Ideally they would be able to concentrate their forces while the lich was weak and strike, and that this would not turn itno a grinding battle of attrtion that might favor an undead enemy.
--
He pondered over the letter of introduction. They had agreed that it was perhaps best not to explicitly call attention to Amvarean being a shape changing dragon, silver or otherwise. Even if she had been a member of the Inheritor's church it was probably still not the best course of action. So they would decline to mention it overtly, and with any luck Amvarean could pass his report to the sword lords regarding ...
regarding this mess.
Maegar had or more likely given what they had deciphered of Willas's journal his march warden had stumbled into some cyclopean ruin, and found a ring... it seemed too strange to have another explanation to what had happened. The ring was missing but its description and the warding runes against bad omens had been telling enough. Willas had presumably brought attention to the Varnhold, woken the ancient slumbering Cyclops lich ... and brought the doom to varnhold... but their missing was hopefully a good sign.
If they were dead there should have been signs of a struggle which there wasn't. Hopefully they were alive. Hopefully they weren't a shambling undead horde, but there was no indication of that. It would warrant further investigation, which of course his letter to Jamandi and Amvarean would assure was under way.... he hoped by the time he returned to Shrikewall it would be to pen the letter that would inform Jamandi Aldori and the sword lords of Restov of his success...
... because if it wasn't the letter he would pen on his return to Shrikewall would be to the Church of Iomedae asking politely for additional assistance. Not necessarily more dragons, but certainly priests of enough skill to challenge and turn undead giants and shore up whatever military force he could put together.
He folded the vellum and placed it in the envelope, and then held the wax over the flame letting it drip over the edges, before pressing the signet lion rampant into the wax glob and waiting for it to solidify.
It was traditional.
"This should gain you entry and audience with the Aldori." She took the letter. He nodded, "Thank you." He compromised that he would send word if anything changed, but even that was limited by the conditions of magic. The recall items were keyed towards visited places of religious significance. He was confident that Amvarean could find her way to Shrike Wall, but he actually expected that Eranex was likely to locate her half sister first if it came to that.
If it came to that. If it came to it, what was the escalation, was the procedure for undead cyclops from a nation lost in the sands of time, and forgotten by history for the most part. The answer to that question was complicated. Eire leaned back and regarded the adult silver in half elf form.
Could Amvarean kill Vordakai by herself? Could Eranex? Could Jaethal?
They had come to investigate the Varnhold's vanishing, and were instead faced with a conflict far beyond anything Jamandi Aldori might have imagined.
--
Notes: as its relevant for next session, I just feel the need to point out the general weirdness of the Azata Empyreal lords, or the emperyeal lords in general but particularly how it seems like an excuse to cram kitchen sink fantasy full of real world religion, but hey thats useful. [Again, I don't get Golarion's cosmology canonically, I'm not going to hew to that terribly close on some things]
And since we're on the subject of that, and Golarion's tendency to kitch sink fantasy, I have no idea why they felt it was necessary to waste a whole chapter (9) on cramming yet another unnecessary lovecraft mini adventurer into Kingmaker P2, This will not be present in, is not present in pretty much any Pathfinder story I write. I digress.
The shadow moved. It was the only warning they had. One moment they had been contemplating Maegar Varn's amateur's fascination in Willas's far ranging archaeological misadventures as recorded in the baronial minutes, and then things had become excitable.
Claw tipped pale hands extended from the inky black cloud of smoke. There had been no warning. There were not any missing sentries or guards. At least not at the last check in. The Soul Eater lunged forward aiming at the dragon in half elf guise. The resulting crash sent books and notes flying as the table splintered in the sudden commotion, and then melee.
Assuming they could rescue Maegar Varn he was willing to take it on faith that the other baron would forgive them the damage his court had incurred from fighting demons as Amvarean shrieked as the shadow demon's claws raked her arm. She released a blast of white wintery cold in response.
Soul Stealers as it happened were not immune or resistant to cold. The adult silver dragon still in humanoid form. Amvarean had a different mother, and thus none of the fae abilities of her half sister possessed, but Amvarean was older than Eranex. The magical ryme of frost literally froze and broke off parts of the solidified shadows.
Eire doubted the daemon would be able to weather a second attack of that magnitude. All the same he regretted that he had already dispatched Amiri and her party to seek out and find the Nomen centaurs under a flag of truce. He hoped that they would succeed in convincing the Centaurs to parley, and make an appearance and that they wouldn't be endangered by the journey. Maegar had not pursued his northern frontier particularly strenuously, he didn't have the manpower for it, not truly.
His hand curled around the longsword and unsheathed it wreathing it in white fire. There was the possibility that another of these things had been sent after Amiri and her party which was a problem. The daemon had no head, he supposed he could aim to remove a limb, but short of hacking the monster to pieces he couldn't be sure of a way to kill it... assuming that would kill it, but banishing it back to its native plane would be fine as well.
He lunged forward a curtain of divine flame ripped across the room a cone forty feet wide slammed into the clawed wielding shadow as Shaoyu unsheathed her own sword. It would only occur later, with the benefit of additional facts, that Amiri had never even been a consideration of a potential target. She wasn't a spellcaster. Ironically Tristian or Jaethal would have been more likely to be targetted than most of the others.
If not Amvarean, he would have been the other priority, but Vordakai had targeted the resurected dragon first hoping perhaps to find a weak link, a chink in the dragon so freshly returned from the dead ... a target of opportunity selected for his conjured assassin./
... and also a testament to how far in power Vordakai the lich had apparently fallen that this was his best option.
The fight lasted less than a minute. Even alone Amvarean could have succeeded with help and with divine magic to remove the deleterious effects of the insidious claws of the daemon it was over quickly with no permanent damage done. That was the limitation of Vordakai's choice the soul eater wasn't the sort of summoned minion to be an effective team player. If they had been within the withered lich's lair perhaps a good distraction but it had been given Amvarean's name to seek out the dragon instead.
Still he looked around turning a flaming gaze to the surrounding searching for other enemies to appear even as the guards arrived. "There seems no other intruder your grace." One of the Armingers declared.
"Indeed." He agreed. "Amvarean if you would accede to it, fly to Amiri and inform her of the situation here." He wasn't sure that a communication spell would be sufficient, and truthfully, "I need you to carry word also on my behalf to Restov." further north.
"But the lich." She began to protest.
He was already weighing the prospect of caution, and turned, "Shaoyu if Vordakai is preparing an army we will not press the attack, do you understand? We will return and mass our own forces. The lich will kneel or be knelt, but it may require time to gather our own host." He was surprised, pleasantly surprised that the young dragon nodded and agreed.
He also knew that Amvarean was relieved as well. He had been concerned one or both dragons would protest. That there would be call for action or for greater caution. They needed to know more about the valley of the dead. He hoped there wasn't an army of the undead... but that was one thing they had seen no sign of.
There was no shambling zombie horde. Not humans not cyclopes... no undead minions. This was the first clear action against them that he had been able to ascertain. Tristian ... he was pretty certain had turn undead and that would be useful, at a more useful letter than many of the other cleric... he certainly wasn't going to bring Jhod over the border into this mess. Not into a warzone... the priest of Erastil could potentially be brought in to supervise relief and aid parties after fighting, but not before.
Would he need to bring Jaethal in?
He recognized he would need to weigh his options carefully.
Ideally they would be able to concentrate their forces while the lich was weak and strike, and that this would not turn itno a grinding battle of attrtion that might favor an undead enemy.
--
He pondered over the letter of introduction. They had agreed that it was perhaps best not to explicitly call attention to Amvarean being a shape changing dragon, silver or otherwise. Even if she had been a member of the Inheritor's church it was probably still not the best course of action. So they would decline to mention it overtly, and with any luck Amvarean could pass his report to the sword lords regarding ...
regarding this mess.
Maegar had or more likely given what they had deciphered of Willas's journal his march warden had stumbled into some cyclopean ruin, and found a ring... it seemed too strange to have another explanation to what had happened. The ring was missing but its description and the warding runes against bad omens had been telling enough. Willas had presumably brought attention to the Varnhold, woken the ancient slumbering Cyclops lich ... and brought the doom to varnhold... but their missing was hopefully a good sign.
If they were dead there should have been signs of a struggle which there wasn't. Hopefully they were alive. Hopefully they weren't a shambling undead horde, but there was no indication of that. It would warrant further investigation, which of course his letter to Jamandi and Amvarean would assure was under way.... he hoped by the time he returned to Shrikewall it would be to pen the letter that would inform Jamandi Aldori and the sword lords of Restov of his success...
... because if it wasn't the letter he would pen on his return to Shrikewall would be to the Church of Iomedae asking politely for additional assistance. Not necessarily more dragons, but certainly priests of enough skill to challenge and turn undead giants and shore up whatever military force he could put together.
He folded the vellum and placed it in the envelope, and then held the wax over the flame letting it drip over the edges, before pressing the signet lion rampant into the wax glob and waiting for it to solidify.
It was traditional.
"This should gain you entry and audience with the Aldori." She took the letter. He nodded, "Thank you." He compromised that he would send word if anything changed, but even that was limited by the conditions of magic. The recall items were keyed towards visited places of religious significance. He was confident that Amvarean could find her way to Shrike Wall, but he actually expected that Eranex was likely to locate her half sister first if it came to that.
If it came to that. If it came to it, what was the escalation, was the procedure for undead cyclops from a nation lost in the sands of time, and forgotten by history for the most part. The answer to that question was complicated. Eire leaned back and regarded the adult silver in half elf form.
Could Amvarean kill Vordakai by herself? Could Eranex? Could Jaethal?
They had come to investigate the Varnhold's vanishing, and were instead faced with a conflict far beyond anything Jamandi Aldori might have imagined.
--
Notes: as its relevant for next session, I just feel the need to point out the general weirdness of the Azata Empyreal lords, or the emperyeal lords in general but particularly how it seems like an excuse to cram kitchen sink fantasy full of real world religion, but hey thats useful. [Again, I don't get Golarion's cosmology canonically, I'm not going to hew to that terribly close on some things]
And since we're on the subject of that, and Golarion's tendency to kitch sink fantasy, I have no idea why they felt it was necessary to waste a whole chapter (9) on cramming yet another unnecessary lovecraft mini adventurer into Kingmaker P2, This will not be present in, is not present in pretty much any Pathfinder story I write. I digress.
Erastus 4716
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Erastus 4716
It was amazing that this ancient graveyard's markers remained even though the bones of the interred had long since been reduced to merely fragmentary remains.
A single ominous form waited for them. The first undead cyclopes... undead hostile to present itself, and the thing wasn't even actively aggressive. The brute hadn't even noticed them... not really a surprise the zombie was not particularly intelligent. It was observing with its single eye the approach, but had done nothing to as they had walked among the markers reading the names of those interred here countless centuries earlier.
Still the solitary monstrosity was a new addition. It had not been mentioned in Willas Gunderston's notes. The Nomen centaurs were suspected to be an offshoot of the greater Rashalka population... the inn in Vanrhold had had a wealth of information on the iobarian centaurs, and hopefully Amvarean would be able to put it to use in a way that Amiri wasn't likely to... or maybe Amiri would succeed in rallying them to potentially face the ancient cyclops by a more primal appeal to arms.
Shaoyu hissed wrinkling her nose at the zombie her hands flexing clearly wanting to take her sword up and severe the giant undead's head, but she restrained herself turning. "Isn't this too small?"
"Pardon?" He asked.
"Jaethal said that Vordakai was an ancient tyrant," The actual cyclopean word and title for their rulers, which lacked the later human negative connotations. "This is too small to be his tomb, he ruled a pre star fall empire."
Eire paused, and looked around the area... and while he was prepared to perhaps attribute some degree of embellishment on grandeur of historical empires perhaps both in their records as well as to their contemporary 'fans' and advocates... Shaoyu wasn't wrong. The steles were certainly of the correct style and period from what he understood... but she was right this was not some ancient citadel. It was not the ruins of ancient city.
This would have been the far frontier of any iobarian empire of the period. It was too far from Casmarron's heartlands, too far from the shining palaces. It made little sense for the ruler of Koloran at least the one who was known to the elves at the time of the star fall. It was possible of course that those records that Jaethal would have had access to could be wrong or exaggerated... but he felt that Shaoyu was probably onto something.
There was a sudden flutter of wings. He turned to see Eranex land with another good fey like creature... or rather that had been his intial assumption. While certainly fey like with animal parts the good outsider was an Azata not a denizen of the first world. The golden turtle man claimed to serve an Empyreal lord who's name sounded at least to Eire as vaguely Vieteminese, but he didn't press questions about this dragon king of Lac, even though it did niggle at the back of his mind as they prepared to move further into the valley.
Whatever the case they had a blind turtle monk along and apparently an evil artifact that needed to be destroyed... and thousands of trapped souls to free. "Have you spoken with your sister?" He inquired. "You abrupt departure," had not implied to him at least, "That you had much time to coordinate actions in concert with us."
"I have. She will rejoin us as soon as she is able." Eranex replied, with a pause, "She was not pleased that the humans in Restov were unable to muster any sort of aid. As you requested she passed word to the Church of Iomedae, but she has gone to rally the centaurs."
He spared a glance to the still oblivious lone undead sentry two feet up the path... and decided to go ahead and bring up Shaoyu's theory.
--
Amvarean had, as promised, returned. That was good. Amiri didn't particular care for riding horses and doubly so when surounded by horse people, it was just weird. The silver dragon's comments about the swordlordsd was a deeper problem.
They couldn't send aid to fight undead monsters?
By Gorrum they hadn't sent aid to contend with the undead minions of the servents of Count Ranalc... what good were the city folk of the so called free city then?
The Kellid warrior had never really understood the swordlords. She had arrived at Jamandi Aldori's big fancy house... because it was a promise of adventure. A chance to prove herself. She only had needed to hear 'adventurers wanted' looking for heroes, to know the next adventure was waiting to make her way from the tavern ... and she hadn't really been in Restov to really grok who these sword lords were at the time.
People with a preference for big words would have said that was impetuous. That they were city people really undermined sword lords as a title to here... oh they could duel, and could fight. She'd been in Restov long enough to recognize a bravo could actually scrap... but there was a disappointment in how unwilling to act at times against serious obvious dangers.
Ranalc first then this Cyclops. "We're not going to make it in time." She grumbled balling her reins in her fist. "We wasted too much time." She said we instead of You to the silver dragon but at least the 'barbarian centaurs' were here helping.
"There is no sign," Amvarean began to reply, "that Vordakai has compiled any force to challenge us. We are concentrated his forces are not."
She scoffed at the platitude. Amiri still felt like they were running late. They weren't there. There could be a battle in progress and they were still following the river south. There were no ominous portents. No rolling black clouds on the horizon no crows or carrion birds. If anything it was a hot summer day. That was the defining description. There was no sign it was going to rain no enemy on the horizon just grassland as far as the eye could see stretching in all directions.
The tors of levenies the mountains they would have to climb up into were still miles beyond the horizon... and, "We should forget going back to Varnhold." She declared. "Just ride for the Tors."
Amvarean frowned marring elven features, "It would do no good Amiri of Six Bears," The Dragon replied concialitory but firm, "Even if we rode all day we would still arrive in the dark at best, and tired besides."
She hated to admit that was true. They might be able to manage sixty miles in a day, but then what. If they stopped half way, and gathered their forces in Varnhold they would still have to ride further south and pitch camp. She loathed to think how far behind they would be ... how slow they would be in catching up without horse.
With the threat identified they rode into Varnhold, and in the morning departed riding south riding through the foothills that lead up into the mountains to the west and then to the great bleached bones of an ancient long dead crag linnorm. The flowing streams, and small rivers necked down through the hills and great mammoths travelled in herds to drink and graze. They weren't here to hunt though and the individual groups numbering about dozen were left be and undisturbed as they continued to ride south.
It was another warm day. Amiri wasn't unused to hot summers, contrary to what some people thought it did actually get hot in the land of the mammoth lords... most people just assumed it was winter all year round... though there was frequently snow in the mountains all year round. The great growth season however blanketed the land with flowers and plants and that could be hot.
She had thought she had prepared herself for any potential weird sites... and the entry to the valley of the dead by itself was in many respects what she had had in mind. The opening to the valley and its miles of warnings and strung together bones hanging from posts by cordage. That was what she had expected to see.
She didn't quite expect to start seeing people just milling about. Tens, became hundreds became thousands. By the time they had ridden far enough into the valley to see the first of the ancient cyclopean grave markers it was clear from even the briefest of conversation with the displaced these were the missing citizens of Varnhold. They had no idea how they had ended up here, only the vaguest of memories of disappearing nothing until they had woken up in this strange place.
The confusion was compounded by the fact that they were riding into the valley with a party of centaurs.... that took time to straighten out... and required them to more or less come to a complete halt, standing around for a couple hours as they let word of mouth slowly circulate. Amiri refused to split up the group they had brought, there was already too much confusion going on by having all these people, and the Nomen centaur... but with all of the Varnhold citizenry seemingly here it made sense to go ahead and pitch camp.
... and then try and figure out who was still missing.
--
Vordakai had had little understanding of the Nomen centaur. The Rashalka were a frontier nuisance in his age, and the cyclops lich had stated he had been, so far as that he could remember in his fragmented state been put into torpor by a rebellion of other cyclopes... that it had been a fragmenting of the Ghol-kan empire and infighting that had destroyed his efforts rather than an external threat.
He had captured Xamanthe for the same reason he might have tried to capture Willas Gunderson before he'd stolen the ring. That the centaur warrior was an intruder. Xamanthe had actually only entered the Valley of the dead roughly contemporaneous to Eire's flight south to find Amvarean's lair, and the headstrong horse had been detained by Vordakai's limited number of guards.
She had been able to provide the cyclops little more than what he had been able to learn from the officers of the Varnhold... too much of the tribe's history had faded into myth and legend and Vordakai himself was a name passed down from the mother tribes.
Eire might have distrusted the cyclops's recounting and claims of not recalling if not for the necessity of having the turtle monk shatter the ornate millenium eye that had replaced Vordakai's original. No doubt the occulus of Abadon had been exerting some kind of malignant influence on the cyclops, though whether that was its nature or some product of the thousands of years Vordakai had been exposed to the artifact was a matter to theorize over later.
Maegar Varn had been able to tell Vordakai the story of the tragedy of Vladlena Lenyenko and the dark. The difference was that between the two of them and the maps of ancient koloran still in Vordakai's position, the cyclops liche was able to potentially put a name to the one responsible.
It was only a potential guilty party, and of course 'Qand-si qadaal' might well have been long dead and his dungeon's defenses might have been independently responsible for killing off the several parties of interlopers hired by the mad merchant hoping to plunder its wealth. It was still too much of a coincidence.
--
Arc Conclusion Notes: Varnhold Vanishing as an AP (the third of the original first edition) is one of my favorites for sheer potential, for teasers and I really wish we had more material on Casmarron and really eastern Avistan like Brevy . This is the conclusion of summer of 4712 largely for the reason of avoiding getting bogged down with things.
The spriggans are an easy threat to deal with. There is diplomacy for making peace with the nomen, and Varnhold is rescued, and of course the occulus of abadon gets smashed and destroyed off screen in the fight. I had considered having this follow crpg canon and letting Tristian do it, but that runs into either revealing tristian as an Outsider and thus his origins as well as not introducing Eranex's companions for when they show up down the road. Its a little touch on heroes of another story type deal.
We resume Kingdom building with the next update and the start of a new arc next time, particularly with a couple of necessary features of medieval / feudal politics. As well as of course nomadic / barbarian / whatever confederations in the form of Armag continuing to grow:
Olah Kakanhket.
The Valley of the Dead.
The Valley of the Dead.
It was amazing that this ancient graveyard's markers remained even though the bones of the interred had long since been reduced to merely fragmentary remains.
A single ominous form waited for them. The first undead cyclopes... undead hostile to present itself, and the thing wasn't even actively aggressive. The brute hadn't even noticed them... not really a surprise the zombie was not particularly intelligent. It was observing with its single eye the approach, but had done nothing to as they had walked among the markers reading the names of those interred here countless centuries earlier.
Still the solitary monstrosity was a new addition. It had not been mentioned in Willas Gunderston's notes. The Nomen centaurs were suspected to be an offshoot of the greater Rashalka population... the inn in Vanrhold had had a wealth of information on the iobarian centaurs, and hopefully Amvarean would be able to put it to use in a way that Amiri wasn't likely to... or maybe Amiri would succeed in rallying them to potentially face the ancient cyclops by a more primal appeal to arms.
Shaoyu hissed wrinkling her nose at the zombie her hands flexing clearly wanting to take her sword up and severe the giant undead's head, but she restrained herself turning. "Isn't this too small?"
"Pardon?" He asked.
"Jaethal said that Vordakai was an ancient tyrant," The actual cyclopean word and title for their rulers, which lacked the later human negative connotations. "This is too small to be his tomb, he ruled a pre star fall empire."
Eire paused, and looked around the area... and while he was prepared to perhaps attribute some degree of embellishment on grandeur of historical empires perhaps both in their records as well as to their contemporary 'fans' and advocates... Shaoyu wasn't wrong. The steles were certainly of the correct style and period from what he understood... but she was right this was not some ancient citadel. It was not the ruins of ancient city.
This would have been the far frontier of any iobarian empire of the period. It was too far from Casmarron's heartlands, too far from the shining palaces. It made little sense for the ruler of Koloran at least the one who was known to the elves at the time of the star fall. It was possible of course that those records that Jaethal would have had access to could be wrong or exaggerated... but he felt that Shaoyu was probably onto something.
There was a sudden flutter of wings. He turned to see Eranex land with another good fey like creature... or rather that had been his intial assumption. While certainly fey like with animal parts the good outsider was an Azata not a denizen of the first world. The golden turtle man claimed to serve an Empyreal lord who's name sounded at least to Eire as vaguely Vieteminese, but he didn't press questions about this dragon king of Lac, even though it did niggle at the back of his mind as they prepared to move further into the valley.
Whatever the case they had a blind turtle monk along and apparently an evil artifact that needed to be destroyed... and thousands of trapped souls to free. "Have you spoken with your sister?" He inquired. "You abrupt departure," had not implied to him at least, "That you had much time to coordinate actions in concert with us."
"I have. She will rejoin us as soon as she is able." Eranex replied, with a pause, "She was not pleased that the humans in Restov were unable to muster any sort of aid. As you requested she passed word to the Church of Iomedae, but she has gone to rally the centaurs."
He spared a glance to the still oblivious lone undead sentry two feet up the path... and decided to go ahead and bring up Shaoyu's theory.
--
Amvarean had, as promised, returned. That was good. Amiri didn't particular care for riding horses and doubly so when surounded by horse people, it was just weird. The silver dragon's comments about the swordlordsd was a deeper problem.
They couldn't send aid to fight undead monsters?
By Gorrum they hadn't sent aid to contend with the undead minions of the servents of Count Ranalc... what good were the city folk of the so called free city then?
The Kellid warrior had never really understood the swordlords. She had arrived at Jamandi Aldori's big fancy house... because it was a promise of adventure. A chance to prove herself. She only had needed to hear 'adventurers wanted' looking for heroes, to know the next adventure was waiting to make her way from the tavern ... and she hadn't really been in Restov to really grok who these sword lords were at the time.
People with a preference for big words would have said that was impetuous. That they were city people really undermined sword lords as a title to here... oh they could duel, and could fight. She'd been in Restov long enough to recognize a bravo could actually scrap... but there was a disappointment in how unwilling to act at times against serious obvious dangers.
Ranalc first then this Cyclops. "We're not going to make it in time." She grumbled balling her reins in her fist. "We wasted too much time." She said we instead of You to the silver dragon but at least the 'barbarian centaurs' were here helping.
"There is no sign," Amvarean began to reply, "that Vordakai has compiled any force to challenge us. We are concentrated his forces are not."
She scoffed at the platitude. Amiri still felt like they were running late. They weren't there. There could be a battle in progress and they were still following the river south. There were no ominous portents. No rolling black clouds on the horizon no crows or carrion birds. If anything it was a hot summer day. That was the defining description. There was no sign it was going to rain no enemy on the horizon just grassland as far as the eye could see stretching in all directions.
The tors of levenies the mountains they would have to climb up into were still miles beyond the horizon... and, "We should forget going back to Varnhold." She declared. "Just ride for the Tors."
Amvarean frowned marring elven features, "It would do no good Amiri of Six Bears," The Dragon replied concialitory but firm, "Even if we rode all day we would still arrive in the dark at best, and tired besides."
She hated to admit that was true. They might be able to manage sixty miles in a day, but then what. If they stopped half way, and gathered their forces in Varnhold they would still have to ride further south and pitch camp. She loathed to think how far behind they would be ... how slow they would be in catching up without horse.
With the threat identified they rode into Varnhold, and in the morning departed riding south riding through the foothills that lead up into the mountains to the west and then to the great bleached bones of an ancient long dead crag linnorm. The flowing streams, and small rivers necked down through the hills and great mammoths travelled in herds to drink and graze. They weren't here to hunt though and the individual groups numbering about dozen were left be and undisturbed as they continued to ride south.
It was another warm day. Amiri wasn't unused to hot summers, contrary to what some people thought it did actually get hot in the land of the mammoth lords... most people just assumed it was winter all year round... though there was frequently snow in the mountains all year round. The great growth season however blanketed the land with flowers and plants and that could be hot.
She had thought she had prepared herself for any potential weird sites... and the entry to the valley of the dead by itself was in many respects what she had had in mind. The opening to the valley and its miles of warnings and strung together bones hanging from posts by cordage. That was what she had expected to see.
She didn't quite expect to start seeing people just milling about. Tens, became hundreds became thousands. By the time they had ridden far enough into the valley to see the first of the ancient cyclopean grave markers it was clear from even the briefest of conversation with the displaced these were the missing citizens of Varnhold. They had no idea how they had ended up here, only the vaguest of memories of disappearing nothing until they had woken up in this strange place.
The confusion was compounded by the fact that they were riding into the valley with a party of centaurs.... that took time to straighten out... and required them to more or less come to a complete halt, standing around for a couple hours as they let word of mouth slowly circulate. Amiri refused to split up the group they had brought, there was already too much confusion going on by having all these people, and the Nomen centaur... but with all of the Varnhold citizenry seemingly here it made sense to go ahead and pitch camp.
... and then try and figure out who was still missing.
--
Vordakai had had little understanding of the Nomen centaur. The Rashalka were a frontier nuisance in his age, and the cyclops lich had stated he had been, so far as that he could remember in his fragmented state been put into torpor by a rebellion of other cyclopes... that it had been a fragmenting of the Ghol-kan empire and infighting that had destroyed his efforts rather than an external threat.
He had captured Xamanthe for the same reason he might have tried to capture Willas Gunderson before he'd stolen the ring. That the centaur warrior was an intruder. Xamanthe had actually only entered the Valley of the dead roughly contemporaneous to Eire's flight south to find Amvarean's lair, and the headstrong horse had been detained by Vordakai's limited number of guards.
She had been able to provide the cyclops little more than what he had been able to learn from the officers of the Varnhold... too much of the tribe's history had faded into myth and legend and Vordakai himself was a name passed down from the mother tribes.
Eire might have distrusted the cyclops's recounting and claims of not recalling if not for the necessity of having the turtle monk shatter the ornate millenium eye that had replaced Vordakai's original. No doubt the occulus of Abadon had been exerting some kind of malignant influence on the cyclops, though whether that was its nature or some product of the thousands of years Vordakai had been exposed to the artifact was a matter to theorize over later.
Maegar Varn had been able to tell Vordakai the story of the tragedy of Vladlena Lenyenko and the dark. The difference was that between the two of them and the maps of ancient koloran still in Vordakai's position, the cyclops liche was able to potentially put a name to the one responsible.
It was only a potential guilty party, and of course 'Qand-si qadaal' might well have been long dead and his dungeon's defenses might have been independently responsible for killing off the several parties of interlopers hired by the mad merchant hoping to plunder its wealth. It was still too much of a coincidence.
--
Arc Conclusion Notes: Varnhold Vanishing as an AP (the third of the original first edition) is one of my favorites for sheer potential, for teasers and I really wish we had more material on Casmarron and really eastern Avistan like Brevy . This is the conclusion of summer of 4712 largely for the reason of avoiding getting bogged down with things.
The spriggans are an easy threat to deal with. There is diplomacy for making peace with the nomen, and Varnhold is rescued, and of course the occulus of abadon gets smashed and destroyed off screen in the fight. I had considered having this follow crpg canon and letting Tristian do it, but that runs into either revealing tristian as an Outsider and thus his origins as well as not introducing Eranex's companions for when they show up down the road. Its a little touch on heroes of another story type deal.
We resume Kingdom building with the next update and the start of a new arc next time, particularly with a couple of necessary features of medieval / feudal politics. As well as of course nomadic / barbarian / whatever confederations in the form of Armag continuing to grow:
So in the CRPG Armag lays siege to Restov and also is implied to have defeated a brevic army, that requires a fairly large army. Now that won't happen immediately but in a general run down of events forthcoming among others: Pitax is already 'paying tribute' to Armag, read bribes, and this in 4712 will culminate in him using the Tiger Lords and the growing tribes aligned with Armag to subjugate to force to compel to make Hannis Drelev bend the knee.
Now this is important because this roughly contemporaneous with another feudal political move, in that while Drelev is submitting to Pitax at barbarian sword point Eire is enfeefing Maegar, and also Vordakai and the centaurs and Amvarean. These are all different sorts of feudal relationships. Maegar and Amvarean are the most classically normal idea of feudal military relations as is popularly conceived. Vordakai is less martial, where as the Nomen represent the feudal relationships, Eire uses the term foederati meaning a people he has a treaty with, but this is between a 'classically' feudal power structure and the older preceding tribal arrangements.
These enfeefments, these recognition of relationships are important because they are the basis of Eire declaring himself a monarch, a king. This will play a role because 4713 on (iirc) Armasse the Church of Iomedae (in conjunction with the other churches) proclaim a fifth Mendevian crusade (and also a couple months later WW1 ends on earth) and of course Deskari does his things (this is the wrath of the Righteous adventure path's beginnings, and its events will run through 4718 culminating in the great blow against the abyss, and the worldwound being closed). The important factor here is Eire's status as a king, and thereby expectation of being politically active on the church's behalf and there will be events across 4713 to this effect
And what will happen is either in 4713 or in spring 4714 Drelev looking to curry favor attacks Narhold, specifically he sends a supported army of his retainers to attack Tatzylford.
But particularly spring of 4713 will to some degree be aimed at a little more slice of medieval life and general daily occurrences with the companions, Valerie, Tristian, Amiri (substantive kellid population in the region)
Now this is important because this roughly contemporaneous with another feudal political move, in that while Drelev is submitting to Pitax at barbarian sword point Eire is enfeefing Maegar, and also Vordakai and the centaurs and Amvarean. These are all different sorts of feudal relationships. Maegar and Amvarean are the most classically normal idea of feudal military relations as is popularly conceived. Vordakai is less martial, where as the Nomen represent the feudal relationships, Eire uses the term foederati meaning a people he has a treaty with, but this is between a 'classically' feudal power structure and the older preceding tribal arrangements.
These enfeefments, these recognition of relationships are important because they are the basis of Eire declaring himself a monarch, a king. This will play a role because 4713 on (iirc) Armasse the Church of Iomedae (in conjunction with the other churches) proclaim a fifth Mendevian crusade (and also a couple months later WW1 ends on earth) and of course Deskari does his things (this is the wrath of the Righteous adventure path's beginnings, and its events will run through 4718 culminating in the great blow against the abyss, and the worldwound being closed). The important factor here is Eire's status as a king, and thereby expectation of being politically active on the church's behalf and there will be events across 4713 to this effect
And what will happen is either in 4713 or in spring 4714 Drelev looking to curry favor attacks Narhold, specifically he sends a supported army of his retainers to attack Tatzylford.
This would either be occurring as Eire is returning from Mendev, or in the following spring during the traditional campaign season
But particularly spring of 4713 will to some degree be aimed at a little more slice of medieval life and general daily occurrences with the companions, Valerie, Tristian, Amiri (substantive kellid population in the region)
1 Arodus 4712 AR
Imperator Pax
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1 Arodus 4712 AR
He shook the last of the water from his hands, and dried his face. Eire inspected the alabaster vase with his now dried hands. It had been given by the Orisirion envoy as part of his embassy mission. It wasn't anything particularly special more the typical foreign mission gift giving for it had been sent before Jamandi's missive regarding the Varnhold's mysterious condition.
Today was the Inheritor's Ascendance, and Armasse was just over two weeks away. It was would fall the day before the new moon, but this year was different than last year. He didn't know what was going on with Brevoy, at least not in a detailed manner. A month and a half earlier Jamandi Aldori had sent a letter referencing tensions with Issia. The situation with the Varnhold had been mediated, the articles drafted, and new border delineations created dividing the Dunward. The Barony of Varnhold still existed with a territorial claim and recognition that extended to roughly running south inline from Restov's own western border. Operating from nominal recognition of the brevic charter that had recognized the original barony was an acknowledgement of the 'foederati' domain of the Nomen clan of centaurs. Then south of both dominated by the southern tors of Levenies was a domain allocated to Vordakai.
It reduced Varnhold's territorial claims to something more manageable. Roughly the equivalent of what Drelev's demesne seemed to actually administer. That was to say the area area Lake Hooktongue rather than the marshes of the slough further south. The new arrangements in the east though changed them beyond the position of claims of barony, county, or even duchy. They were the matters of kings, or even Empire.
Vordakai had very nearly risked annihilation. The atrophied Cyclops lich had allowed some of Varnhold's residents to be eaten, but his interrogation of Willas Gunderson, and then of Maegar, and the eastern baron's other companions had placed the lich in a complicated spot.
Part of that had been word of Jaethal, part of it had been Shaoyu's existence, and then of course his raven familiar had brought word of the investigation into the Varnhold Vanishing that had been mounted. Koloran as a polity had been an offshoot of Ghol-Gan. Ironically by cyclops rejecting the hedonism of that empire to settle in Casmaron. In Ghol Gan's era and thus that of Koloran the Elven Empires of the pre starfall had existed. Koloran had existed coterminous with those human empires that emerged and like them had died with the Earthfall of the Starstone from the heavens.
Vordakai's enfeefment was more a matter of practicality. The cyclops suspected that regardless of whatever degeneration had so afflicted modern cyclops if he had survived the downfall of his own people as a lich most likely there were others who had done the same... and that those ancient Koloran cyclops were like as much a threat to him as they were to other humans. Vordakai and his retainers had apparently been betrayed in as much political intrigue as he had been brought down by conflict with external human and centaur foes in the time of the falling stars.
Of course it was also possible Vordakai had quickly proffered that potential danger in order to increase his own apparent value rather than face Shaoyu, or Jaethal or Silversteps two daughters, or Eire himself in open combat... but so far so good. ... and he suspected Vordakai might likely be right and that the cyclops was looking at the possibility of mutual defense with complete seriousness against other Koloran survivors.
Monarchy.
That was where they stood, and that meant turning further away from Brevoy, and culturally Eire suspected much more towards the Inner Sea. Jubilost was quick to make comparisons to Cheliax, or at least Cheliax as it had been before the civil war, but that was mostly a product of the Church of Iomedae felt in doctrine and broad similarities in lex talionis and jurisprudence more generally.... but the gnome was right with where they sat now there needed to be more indepth political structuring to administer geographic areas in the realm.
This wasn't brevoy where the small crofts were roughly a day's ride from one another and larger villages spread out a little further and then towns, and larger towns and so forth until you reached the seats of the great houses. The River kingdoms were vastly less peopled and with freedom of movement and the migration of various nomads through it was too few of a fixed population to rely on that.
Land was cheap, and people sparse in comparison to Brevoy where it was the opposite. Eire dried his hands. Varnhold would need a larger more capable road system. The road needed to be widened graded and paved... at the very least to roman highway specifications...
... and then there were the elven ruins to consider as well. They created other questions beyond those and the Koloran ruins built by the ancient cyclops. There were no dwarven ruins in the east, the dwarves had not made their migration to the surface until after the elves had fled the earthfall and the cyclops had succumbed to its devastation the shield road in the westlands were much younger, if still old, than the ruins of elves and one eyed giants.
Thus remained the other enfeefment. The Silverstep domain or hold, for the children of the silver dragon... but mainly Amvarean. Her sister, Eranex, was in the service of Skyka the many and Amvarean intended to place her new seat on the lakeshore proper. Another matter of enfeefment because Amvarean would be responsible for the Lake's surrounding communities, and in all likelihood be point of contact toe the tribe of elves she had spoken of after her resurrection.
He stared at the fixtures that dominated the vaulted chamber. They needed an organized apparatus to work from... and as Maegar had put it, 'better you than me.' It wasn't a unique sentiment. Regongar liked being a 'war leader' but neither he nor Amiri expressed an interest in the necessary leadership aspects on the civil side, or the business of ruling. Jaethal was begrudgingly willing to do some things so long as he didn't ry and push into being chief justice full time.
A cassocked priest entered, and bowed "Its is time your grace."
--
The recognition of his ascension, a reiteration, rededication of the realm, and its commitments had occupied the religious festivities, and thus while the common folk were now engrossed in commiserating they returned to the business of state craft.
Harrgulka cleared his throat the large troll scratching his chin as he paused in exaggerated contemplation, "I don't understand, why become king now, and not before."
"Mostly a matter of geographic distinction." Eire replied taking his seat at the head of the heavy oak table. There was no point in discussing how ridiculously grandiose the Brevic charter giving Varnhold claim to hte whole of the dunsward was. The truth was each of the 'baronies' as Jamandi had intended of them really he would have called them petty kingdoms or potential dukedoms.... but he hadn't written them... and Brevoy didn't seem to have dukes.
Now with direct access to the steppes of Casmaron there were other trade opportunities even if those were to be the caravan routes. That most certainly would require them to coordinate not just with the Nomen Centaurs, and possibly other Rusalka branches, but also the horselords of the wide grasslands. In order to facilitate that he needed to expand the connections east to west.
While no dwarven outposts existed along the modern caravan roads of the steppe once long ago the same pathways had been host to cyclopean structures, and by and large despite the thousands of years those Koloran remnants still dotted the landscape. It was designed to provide them a starting point especially as the east west routes needed to cover the breadth of the kingdom... and of course that meant more work poured into the road of shields and its fortresses.
... which meant the potential issue of modern dwarves, and that was simply one more other thing that had been probably inevitable given the scope of the realm... and the mass of ruins. He'd known that elves and dwarves were a potential concern since the beginning. Humans were unlikely to come start laying connection to ancient Taldan fortresses or mines in the way the elves and dwarves might. Cyclops wouldn't, but as Vordakai had lamented his race had fallen mightily since the starstone had fallen from the heavens.
The introduction of, or expansion of, Kobolds into the trollish hold along with humans and lizardfolk into the souther fief had had another interesting development. He had intended for common, that was Taldane, to serve as the primary literate language but that was quickly being overtaken in written word... as trolls learned to write by draconic, which resulted in draconic superseding the common tongue as spoken. A not insignificant portion of brevic colonists, not just in his own, but from those who had helped settle the Varnhold, spoke Draconic it wasn't especially an issue but it did settle them neatly into effectively a de jure state of bilingualism given the law and government documents being put out regularly in draconic, even if this meeting was in the common human tongue.
"Well," The cleric of Groetus harrumphed, "What about that upstart hammer swinger from the woradash." Harrim grunted, for all the grumbling that Dragn supposedly did the dwarf had waited the more than a month it had taken to contend with business in the east.
"The truth of course is the bronzeshield is as good a place to build the kingdom's," And how easy it was to use the word, he'd been fighting the temptation to for a while now, "provisions to begin with," The road of shields, and its fortresses were more likely to be repopulated with humans and whether that would or wouldn't be an issue only time would tell, but "As for settling Dragn's shop there it makes the most practical sense."
Where the Shrike had flown into the Tuskwater had become basically the capital district. There was the baronial seat, and then under the most recent organizational outline a county of Shrikewall. There were broad territorial divisions of the north and south narlmarches and the Dire marches on their western border. There was recognition of Silverstep, obviously, and the Kamelands, and the northern border too.
... and of course annexation of the east and the boundaries there. Thankfully that had been simpler than it might have seemed. The nomen, the broader Rusalka still adhered to recognition of borders that hadn't existed in thousands of years. That was the nominal dispute cause offense taken, and retaliation so delineating that border would need to be done in stone... whether they would get that done before winter was another question. They could get started at least.
They needed maps though, and easily they were talking about a breadth of the realm east to west from the Dunsward to the border with the slough of a hundred fifty something miles. Obviously there was the completed roadway between shrikewall to varnhold that while not straight meant they also weren't starting from scratch, but that would require six months with a significant labor force, and it was doubtful it could have been done before Lamashtun came. Most likely work would have to be subdivided into regions, three hundred to five hundred men in the west and the same in the east, and connecting them.
"Do we have estimates for that?"
"With the existing roads? About half of it, seventy miles needs to be built across the dunsward frontier." Dead Dave declared, as he flipped creaking fingers across the instruments in front of him. "I'd also just like to say six months might not be enough." The undead engineer added unbidden from within his hood. "Lord Maegar has not the men for it, no villagers in the horse-folks lands to pool from." He elaborated, "Finishing the narlmarch road, well there is hereford which is small but its something to start from, and thats a smaller roadway."
And it wsan't just the old elven keep either. There the dwarf ruins, there were taldan ruins, there were even koloran ruins in the west as well. There was thorn ford further east of those. There were plenty of places to stockpile materials and set camps to and from. They had more options in the west in no small part because they had been focused there before the Vanishing.
Vordakai grunted, and breathed again. The liches bones sounding like dry branches. The Tors were perhaps even more sparsely populated than most of the river kingdoms, they were deep and inhospitable, completely unsuited to sustaining agriculture outside of very narrow valleys that frankly were too steep for much. The exceptions were in the valley cut by the mivon as it flowed down from the north or the source of the little sellen, but those lands were unpeopled and only really temporary stopovers by migrating nomads.... obviously in the little Sellen's case that was a mix of Vordakai's tomb and the historical belligerence of the centaurs hoping to deter interlopers out of ancestral memories passed down to prevent interlopers into the Cyclopean valley of the dead in the eastern tors.
That meant connecting the roughly thirty miles from the western tors to Silverstep's western banks where the Gudrin flowed out and towards the tuskwater was another complication. Certainly connecting the Little Sellen's northern banks to the Gudrin's southern would be useful... but again it was a question of labor in a year half over.
A simple reality of feudal politics. Being a king opened options, but he also knew that form monarchial status also brought other considerations abroad. The Church of Iomedae was no friend to Galt's revolutionary insanity, and of course there was Mendev and the great crusade to consider... and then less militantly there was the look north to Brevoy in hopes of success of influence there. It was a prospect that had hitherto been merely talk and not seriously expected of a small provincial freeholding lord in the hinterlands... now potentially something different.
--
His eyes creaked open against the sun light. The thundering trumpet calls of dragons.. Here again, dreaming in a place beyond Golarion, but one that wasn't earth. It was the weight of actions, and deeds, the metaphorical importance that shaped things. The force of will.
Bringing Vordakai and Varnhold into the fold, the Nomen were all deeds. Perhaps if Vordakai had had more time to rebuild, regaining his strength and had been more willing to engage in battle then it might have happened sooner.
... or not. Out and out conquest might not have allowed him to declare his coronation, his claim to kingship any sooner. Ten pieces floated of what should have assembled into an orb he thought... a sphere of some kind...
Harrgulka had asked why now? Maybe now was just the right the time. Eire had selected the first day of Arodus because it was the opening of the month, but it was hard to miss that it was an Iomedaen holy day as well. It was harder still to miss that his awakening here had come ... at a time of recognition by powerful subjects. Hargulka, and now Amvarean and Vordakai instead of the charter recognition of Restov.
Three fragments of an orb remained bright against the sky, six sat as dim cold, cloudy glass, and one pulsed weakly. Still the other three sat farther away, further in orbit around his head.
The land he found himself in was not the great lake of Shrikewall. Shrikewall was a promontory projecting into the waters of the lake. The vast green expanse was a series of almost rings, that were fed by long curling deep rivers into the surrounding countryside. Similar but not the same.
--
Notes:
First World images
Richat structure https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/ASTER_Richat.jpg
Llorens's atlantis gif https://www.artstation.com/artwork/e0d3x6
Now for the gif its really a combination of the second and third image just all green and blue that fuels the imag, but particularly the river network on the outer edges of the image, where as the central structure, the eroded dome in richat is more green valleys and trees. It bears commenting that this would be significantly larger than Shrikewall's area. The dome is twenty five miles across.
These images give some idea as to what is taking shape within the first world.
In terms of historical real world comparison Shrikewall is more based on well in many respects trends we see in Constantinople (not unintentionally in Eire's city plan) or Caffa or other cities / settlements on the black sea) of which part of that is also the geographic equivalence, Brevoy, the River Kingdoms and Iobaria are near as I can tell heavily based off of the pontic caspian steppe expanse and the countries upon them.
Anyway, further historical comparisons, ancient Harappa (this is a site in the indus valley) is a city center roughly three and a half miles and her city walls were forty foot thick (this is brick) at the base.
Persuing Paizo I found a guy did another interactive map: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43p3k?An-interactive-map-of-Golarion
https://pf-wikis.github.io/mapping/
He shook the last of the water from his hands, and dried his face. Eire inspected the alabaster vase with his now dried hands. It had been given by the Orisirion envoy as part of his embassy mission. It wasn't anything particularly special more the typical foreign mission gift giving for it had been sent before Jamandi's missive regarding the Varnhold's mysterious condition.
Today was the Inheritor's Ascendance, and Armasse was just over two weeks away. It was would fall the day before the new moon, but this year was different than last year. He didn't know what was going on with Brevoy, at least not in a detailed manner. A month and a half earlier Jamandi Aldori had sent a letter referencing tensions with Issia. The situation with the Varnhold had been mediated, the articles drafted, and new border delineations created dividing the Dunward. The Barony of Varnhold still existed with a territorial claim and recognition that extended to roughly running south inline from Restov's own western border. Operating from nominal recognition of the brevic charter that had recognized the original barony was an acknowledgement of the 'foederati' domain of the Nomen clan of centaurs. Then south of both dominated by the southern tors of Levenies was a domain allocated to Vordakai.
It reduced Varnhold's territorial claims to something more manageable. Roughly the equivalent of what Drelev's demesne seemed to actually administer. That was to say the area area Lake Hooktongue rather than the marshes of the slough further south. The new arrangements in the east though changed them beyond the position of claims of barony, county, or even duchy. They were the matters of kings, or even Empire.
Vordakai had very nearly risked annihilation. The atrophied Cyclops lich had allowed some of Varnhold's residents to be eaten, but his interrogation of Willas Gunderson, and then of Maegar, and the eastern baron's other companions had placed the lich in a complicated spot.
Part of that had been word of Jaethal, part of it had been Shaoyu's existence, and then of course his raven familiar had brought word of the investigation into the Varnhold Vanishing that had been mounted. Koloran as a polity had been an offshoot of Ghol-Gan. Ironically by cyclops rejecting the hedonism of that empire to settle in Casmaron. In Ghol Gan's era and thus that of Koloran the Elven Empires of the pre starfall had existed. Koloran had existed coterminous with those human empires that emerged and like them had died with the Earthfall of the Starstone from the heavens.
Vordakai's enfeefment was more a matter of practicality. The cyclops suspected that regardless of whatever degeneration had so afflicted modern cyclops if he had survived the downfall of his own people as a lich most likely there were others who had done the same... and that those ancient Koloran cyclops were like as much a threat to him as they were to other humans. Vordakai and his retainers had apparently been betrayed in as much political intrigue as he had been brought down by conflict with external human and centaur foes in the time of the falling stars.
Of course it was also possible Vordakai had quickly proffered that potential danger in order to increase his own apparent value rather than face Shaoyu, or Jaethal or Silversteps two daughters, or Eire himself in open combat... but so far so good. ... and he suspected Vordakai might likely be right and that the cyclops was looking at the possibility of mutual defense with complete seriousness against other Koloran survivors.
Monarchy.
That was where they stood, and that meant turning further away from Brevoy, and culturally Eire suspected much more towards the Inner Sea. Jubilost was quick to make comparisons to Cheliax, or at least Cheliax as it had been before the civil war, but that was mostly a product of the Church of Iomedae felt in doctrine and broad similarities in lex talionis and jurisprudence more generally.... but the gnome was right with where they sat now there needed to be more indepth political structuring to administer geographic areas in the realm.
This wasn't brevoy where the small crofts were roughly a day's ride from one another and larger villages spread out a little further and then towns, and larger towns and so forth until you reached the seats of the great houses. The River kingdoms were vastly less peopled and with freedom of movement and the migration of various nomads through it was too few of a fixed population to rely on that.
Land was cheap, and people sparse in comparison to Brevoy where it was the opposite. Eire dried his hands. Varnhold would need a larger more capable road system. The road needed to be widened graded and paved... at the very least to roman highway specifications...
... and then there were the elven ruins to consider as well. They created other questions beyond those and the Koloran ruins built by the ancient cyclops. There were no dwarven ruins in the east, the dwarves had not made their migration to the surface until after the elves had fled the earthfall and the cyclops had succumbed to its devastation the shield road in the westlands were much younger, if still old, than the ruins of elves and one eyed giants.
Thus remained the other enfeefment. The Silverstep domain or hold, for the children of the silver dragon... but mainly Amvarean. Her sister, Eranex, was in the service of Skyka the many and Amvarean intended to place her new seat on the lakeshore proper. Another matter of enfeefment because Amvarean would be responsible for the Lake's surrounding communities, and in all likelihood be point of contact toe the tribe of elves she had spoken of after her resurrection.
He stared at the fixtures that dominated the vaulted chamber. They needed an organized apparatus to work from... and as Maegar had put it, 'better you than me.' It wasn't a unique sentiment. Regongar liked being a 'war leader' but neither he nor Amiri expressed an interest in the necessary leadership aspects on the civil side, or the business of ruling. Jaethal was begrudgingly willing to do some things so long as he didn't ry and push into being chief justice full time.
A cassocked priest entered, and bowed "Its is time your grace."
--
The recognition of his ascension, a reiteration, rededication of the realm, and its commitments had occupied the religious festivities, and thus while the common folk were now engrossed in commiserating they returned to the business of state craft.
Harrgulka cleared his throat the large troll scratching his chin as he paused in exaggerated contemplation, "I don't understand, why become king now, and not before."
"Mostly a matter of geographic distinction." Eire replied taking his seat at the head of the heavy oak table. There was no point in discussing how ridiculously grandiose the Brevic charter giving Varnhold claim to hte whole of the dunsward was. The truth was each of the 'baronies' as Jamandi had intended of them really he would have called them petty kingdoms or potential dukedoms.... but he hadn't written them... and Brevoy didn't seem to have dukes.
Now with direct access to the steppes of Casmaron there were other trade opportunities even if those were to be the caravan routes. That most certainly would require them to coordinate not just with the Nomen Centaurs, and possibly other Rusalka branches, but also the horselords of the wide grasslands. In order to facilitate that he needed to expand the connections east to west.
While no dwarven outposts existed along the modern caravan roads of the steppe once long ago the same pathways had been host to cyclopean structures, and by and large despite the thousands of years those Koloran remnants still dotted the landscape. It was designed to provide them a starting point especially as the east west routes needed to cover the breadth of the kingdom... and of course that meant more work poured into the road of shields and its fortresses.
... which meant the potential issue of modern dwarves, and that was simply one more other thing that had been probably inevitable given the scope of the realm... and the mass of ruins. He'd known that elves and dwarves were a potential concern since the beginning. Humans were unlikely to come start laying connection to ancient Taldan fortresses or mines in the way the elves and dwarves might. Cyclops wouldn't, but as Vordakai had lamented his race had fallen mightily since the starstone had fallen from the heavens.
The introduction of, or expansion of, Kobolds into the trollish hold along with humans and lizardfolk into the souther fief had had another interesting development. He had intended for common, that was Taldane, to serve as the primary literate language but that was quickly being overtaken in written word... as trolls learned to write by draconic, which resulted in draconic superseding the common tongue as spoken. A not insignificant portion of brevic colonists, not just in his own, but from those who had helped settle the Varnhold, spoke Draconic it wasn't especially an issue but it did settle them neatly into effectively a de jure state of bilingualism given the law and government documents being put out regularly in draconic, even if this meeting was in the common human tongue.
"Well," The cleric of Groetus harrumphed, "What about that upstart hammer swinger from the woradash." Harrim grunted, for all the grumbling that Dragn supposedly did the dwarf had waited the more than a month it had taken to contend with business in the east.
"The truth of course is the bronzeshield is as good a place to build the kingdom's," And how easy it was to use the word, he'd been fighting the temptation to for a while now, "provisions to begin with," The road of shields, and its fortresses were more likely to be repopulated with humans and whether that would or wouldn't be an issue only time would tell, but "As for settling Dragn's shop there it makes the most practical sense."
Where the Shrike had flown into the Tuskwater had become basically the capital district. There was the baronial seat, and then under the most recent organizational outline a county of Shrikewall. There were broad territorial divisions of the north and south narlmarches and the Dire marches on their western border. There was recognition of Silverstep, obviously, and the Kamelands, and the northern border too.
... and of course annexation of the east and the boundaries there. Thankfully that had been simpler than it might have seemed. The nomen, the broader Rusalka still adhered to recognition of borders that hadn't existed in thousands of years. That was the nominal dispute cause offense taken, and retaliation so delineating that border would need to be done in stone... whether they would get that done before winter was another question. They could get started at least.
They needed maps though, and easily they were talking about a breadth of the realm east to west from the Dunsward to the border with the slough of a hundred fifty something miles. Obviously there was the completed roadway between shrikewall to varnhold that while not straight meant they also weren't starting from scratch, but that would require six months with a significant labor force, and it was doubtful it could have been done before Lamashtun came. Most likely work would have to be subdivided into regions, three hundred to five hundred men in the west and the same in the east, and connecting them.
"Do we have estimates for that?"
"With the existing roads? About half of it, seventy miles needs to be built across the dunsward frontier." Dead Dave declared, as he flipped creaking fingers across the instruments in front of him. "I'd also just like to say six months might not be enough." The undead engineer added unbidden from within his hood. "Lord Maegar has not the men for it, no villagers in the horse-folks lands to pool from." He elaborated, "Finishing the narlmarch road, well there is hereford which is small but its something to start from, and thats a smaller roadway."
And it wsan't just the old elven keep either. There the dwarf ruins, there were taldan ruins, there were even koloran ruins in the west as well. There was thorn ford further east of those. There were plenty of places to stockpile materials and set camps to and from. They had more options in the west in no small part because they had been focused there before the Vanishing.
Vordakai grunted, and breathed again. The liches bones sounding like dry branches. The Tors were perhaps even more sparsely populated than most of the river kingdoms, they were deep and inhospitable, completely unsuited to sustaining agriculture outside of very narrow valleys that frankly were too steep for much. The exceptions were in the valley cut by the mivon as it flowed down from the north or the source of the little sellen, but those lands were unpeopled and only really temporary stopovers by migrating nomads.... obviously in the little Sellen's case that was a mix of Vordakai's tomb and the historical belligerence of the centaurs hoping to deter interlopers out of ancestral memories passed down to prevent interlopers into the Cyclopean valley of the dead in the eastern tors.
That meant connecting the roughly thirty miles from the western tors to Silverstep's western banks where the Gudrin flowed out and towards the tuskwater was another complication. Certainly connecting the Little Sellen's northern banks to the Gudrin's southern would be useful... but again it was a question of labor in a year half over.
A simple reality of feudal politics. Being a king opened options, but he also knew that form monarchial status also brought other considerations abroad. The Church of Iomedae was no friend to Galt's revolutionary insanity, and of course there was Mendev and the great crusade to consider... and then less militantly there was the look north to Brevoy in hopes of success of influence there. It was a prospect that had hitherto been merely talk and not seriously expected of a small provincial freeholding lord in the hinterlands... now potentially something different.
--
His eyes creaked open against the sun light. The thundering trumpet calls of dragons.. Here again, dreaming in a place beyond Golarion, but one that wasn't earth. It was the weight of actions, and deeds, the metaphorical importance that shaped things. The force of will.
Bringing Vordakai and Varnhold into the fold, the Nomen were all deeds. Perhaps if Vordakai had had more time to rebuild, regaining his strength and had been more willing to engage in battle then it might have happened sooner.
... or not. Out and out conquest might not have allowed him to declare his coronation, his claim to kingship any sooner. Ten pieces floated of what should have assembled into an orb he thought... a sphere of some kind...
Harrgulka had asked why now? Maybe now was just the right the time. Eire had selected the first day of Arodus because it was the opening of the month, but it was hard to miss that it was an Iomedaen holy day as well. It was harder still to miss that his awakening here had come ... at a time of recognition by powerful subjects. Hargulka, and now Amvarean and Vordakai instead of the charter recognition of Restov.
Three fragments of an orb remained bright against the sky, six sat as dim cold, cloudy glass, and one pulsed weakly. Still the other three sat farther away, further in orbit around his head.
The land he found himself in was not the great lake of Shrikewall. Shrikewall was a promontory projecting into the waters of the lake. The vast green expanse was a series of almost rings, that were fed by long curling deep rivers into the surrounding countryside. Similar but not the same.
--
Notes:
First World images
Richat structure https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/ASTER_Richat.jpg
Llorens's atlantis gif https://www.artstation.com/artwork/e0d3x6
Now for the gif its really a combination of the second and third image just all green and blue that fuels the imag, but particularly the river network on the outer edges of the image, where as the central structure, the eroded dome in richat is more green valleys and trees. It bears commenting that this would be significantly larger than Shrikewall's area. The dome is twenty five miles across.
These images give some idea as to what is taking shape within the first world.
In terms of historical real world comparison Shrikewall is more based on well in many respects trends we see in Constantinople (not unintentionally in Eire's city plan) or Caffa or other cities / settlements on the black sea) of which part of that is also the geographic equivalence, Brevoy, the River Kingdoms and Iobaria are near as I can tell heavily based off of the pontic caspian steppe expanse and the countries upon them.
Anyway, further historical comparisons, ancient Harappa (this is a site in the indus valley) is a city center roughly three and a half miles and her city walls were forty foot thick (this is brick) at the base.
Persuing Paizo I found a guy did another interactive map: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43p3k?An-interactive-map-of-Golarion
https://pf-wikis.github.io/mapping/
Trek
The Ascendant
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What I think Atlantis looks like
Arodus 4712
Imperator Pax
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Arodus 4712
Crowns were largely ceremonial fixtures. Most monarchs did not wear them for day to day business, at least not the ones used for the coronation of a new monarch. He felt the flashing memories of a brow ringed by a burning crown of stars. He didn't have to contend with that or of somewhat mortal formal circlets either.
He had a few days more. The truth was the proclamation of the monarchy, the nominal changes in suzerainty, of the Varnhold, the territorial divisions did not meaningfully effect the daily life of the average common person. It didn't even change the affairs of those who farmed on his four field systems with the horse collars. Really what was changing was almost emphemeral to the majority of people. It didn't effect the average man on the street so much as those that belonged to other elevated social classes.
This was predominantly was felt among the clergy, but that was itself likely a result of the over representation of divine casters at court and among the council and by product. The merchants and martial elites certainly were effected as well, but they were a small minority of the realm. The Church of Alseta, a minor taldan goddess, existed in Brevoy as well as Last Wall, and Absalom of course, but in particular she was also a member of the Elven pantheon being the unoffical patron deities of the elf gates.
The Rings ... of which Eire found his domain had more than one in his realm now. The Aiudara were even called Alseta's ring in modern day Isger. Yuelral was another deity of the elven pantheon with a growing presence, though in this case more popular among the growing population of half elves in the realm. That was in conjunction to small growing flock of the Church of the Guiding Hand who had already made their presence known... to Jaethal's frequent annoyance.
The migrations, the immigrants from southern lands added new faiths. Within Shrikewall, Chohar of Mzali, Adanye, and Osiris, stood among the good gods. As did the chuches of the empyreal lords Falayna, Andoletta, and Ragathiel. Most of these had arrived with the human populations from the Inner Sea, or at least nearby kingdoms, but there were other arrivals.
Though Munguk had little interest in associated with the small tribe of stone giants there was a community of them, and they venerated Minderhal. In addition to that they venerated Erastil's apparent sister, there was some disagreement on orthodoxy, Fandarra... of course the giants also claimed Erastil as Estig... but it was the same god just a variation on the name. The exact relationship between Minderhal and Erastil ... was equally unclear to Eire, and it was not a debate he intended to weigh in on. He had no interest in an internal doctrine debate within another church, and hoped that Harrim felt the same.
While the giant folk came over land the Humans and half elfs, particularly those from Cheliax and Taldor, came by river. The addition of new folk also counted catfolk, ratfolk and tengu as well as others some came from the caravans of the east, but most still the river. The others was on the item today as Kalikke sat in her spot on the council. It was impossible to avoid the inevitable politics of migration from the inner sea, and from the rivalry of the three continents' great powers, and their long storied histories and relations with one another.
Kelesh, Katapesh, Osirion, Andoran, Cheliax, and Taldor. The Great City of Absalom and nations further afield.
Eire adjusted his sleeve. He had expected there were going to be disagreements, schismatics, and arguments from the religious sectors. Of course there were going to be religious disagreements that were likely wholly unique to the kingdom as well. Legal disagreements and so forth as well.
With the growing population Eire found the river freedoms less and less likely to be realistic requirements. They meant nothing to the majority of the population, and yet the prohibition against slavery, and slaving had been codified in the dragon law... and oathbreakers die was certainly another one with an equivalency found with in, though it did make it a government matter, freedom of speech could be broadly equivalence to the first.
Beyond that slavery was an abomination, while the name did have differences 'you have you hold' was more or less in practice... though based on English common law's historical distinction between burglary and robbery where of course theft by stealth was more harshly punished common law. Of the six, the only long term potential one was walk any road float any river, and if it had just been freedom of movement (given the expectation of Courts are for kings) then Eire would have less potential issue.
... but it came down to slavery and the fact that the Inner Sea's great empires all had institutional slavery... but that was less contentious than the racial component and discrimination non humans tended to face. That was the larger potential problem than slavery itself, and thus far as nominally one of the River Kingdoms and with most trade sailing from Absalom rather than from the others they hadn't had a problem...
He twisted away from the the gilt painted vaulted ceiling, but Tristian was already volunteering, "I can go and speak with them your grace."
"Thank you." Eire replied, despite it was not precisely the outcome that Kalikke would have preferred... though he doubted the blue eyed Tiefling had formulated a quite completed idea... Tristian could be a little naïve at times but he was capable as a diplomatic envoy particularly in matters of the Sarenite faithful. They'd need a more defined diplomatic bureau of sorts later, but there were limits on what they could do. "I would remark that those wishing to settle and start new lives here are welcome to do so."
... but it was a long journey to ask people to make, and a potentially dangerous one. Something like fifteen hundred miles by sea and river, and one most successful with support. Support that the down trodden and oppressed in Qadira did not necessarily have in comparison to Cheliax where the Church of Iomedae was happy to assist relocating others... he supposed he could ask.
--
The truth was the meeting had worn on him, there simply was more that needed to be done. Whether Brevoy wished to recognize it or not the increasing tensions between rostland and issian factions had impacted Varnhold's accession into the realm. Vordakai had abducted thousands .... admittedly through the use of ancient cylopean relics to allow him to accomplish such a thing... but he had done it as the summer harvest was just mature. That meant it had put Varnhold's farmers behind taking it in and the kulchek spriggans had left the granaries open on top of that.
Even with Varnhold's abductees largely alive and unharmed it had set them back on the harvest, and with damaged fields, and behind on planting and just all around where a medieval community dreaded being. Hence the political reordering. Jamandi didn't seem to understand that, or the specifics too caught up in her own games in the north. Eire didn't have time for that.
"It is relatively apparent, that a tour of the realm needs to be organized before the first snows..." they'd been able to duck this particular feudal responsibility because they were building from the ground up, but it needed to be done. At the very least a return trip to Varnhold to make appearances even if neither he nor maegar intended to stand overly much on ceremony, but he needed to visit Oleg, and the town there, Nettle's crossing, the Thorn ford and the bronzeshield and Hereford as well as the lizard folk and old scyamore.
Amiri might have been openly contemptuous of the notion 'twice born' armag but there were a lot many thousands of migrating nomads who seemed to believe. That worried him. Even though Amiri viewed the gathering of different tribes, clans, followings, and other different groups based on ties of kinship or similar relation as ultimately a temporary gathering ... Eire feared the mustering of a great horde capable of laying siege to Rostland, and Brevoy. A threat that Jamandi looked to be completely ignoring, but if she was she was and there was little he suspected that could be done to change her opinion... much as he didn't expect to change Amiri's opinion until something else happened.
Of course if their goal was Numeria, if that was where they were travelling to that meant that they had to pass through Drelev, into the Glenebon and further west still. At least a hundred fifty miles overland with no good roads. Not that the nomads necessarily would have followed the roads, they lived off the lands, and chased game, followed their trails through the wilderness, and navigated by the stars in the night sky.
He took his hands out of his pockets and rested them on the arms of his chair, but didn't stand up. They weren't done yet.
"Where would we begin?"
Tristian had already volunteered to interact with the missions, but, "New Colton, I would think, perhaps then to Candlemere, then going up the Gudrin to Silverstep, and then north." The first two could be done day to day... unless there was something specific in the communities that needed to be addressed. That was the advantage of waterborne travel from the Tuskwater, but the journey to Varnhold would be another matter.
The elf nodded in response, and with some resignation Valerie copied the gesture, "I will make arrangements." The blonde paused, "If your grace would heed me though perhaps this would be better served as two separate trips. Armasse is approaching, and it would be in the realms interest to I think for you to be present."
He nodded. "Yes. Perhaps visiting Varnhold after Armasse concludes would be better." The meeting wound on as another day waned.
--
"Are you alright your grace?"
Eire stretched out feeling the magic flowing through the air. He wasn't even looking at anything in particular, but since the proclamation of king he'd been feeling off... different... to an entirely new degree from the changes he had seemed to undergo after the events of Lake Silverstep... which was only part of the reason he wanted to visit the lake.
There was no guarantee Silverstep lake would give him any insight into his condition.
He closed his fingers and brought his hand back in. He almost asked the blonde former Paladin what she would do if he suddenly lost form and did something insane like turn into a dragon... that was how momentarily fragile his grip felt.
Draw a sword?
Maybe. He didn't ask.
The notion of turning into a dragon though made him snort... oh yes that would have made all the current kobold drama pale in comparison. They had enough drama. "There is so much work to be done." The cartographical situation of the stolen lands was a grand project, and the geological forces that had shaped the land also informed them of the lands characteristics. He looked out over the lake's clear surface. At the ships... and at the tents pitched upon his shore. "What do you make of it all?"
"We have made tremendous progress your grace. No one should be able to dispute that." She began, and then stopped, and not for the first time Eire was reminded that Valerie came from established titular nobility. Her parents were brevic nobles, patrons of the ... a church, and that out of perhaps anyone on the council she probably understood the feudal dynamics the best, "Or at least none should." She amended.
Jaethal was an elf who had risen to rank high in Kyonin, before her fall from grace. The twins had seen high society in Qadira, and before their discovery and own tragedy.
They were entirely different animals socially, religiously, economically.
The throngs of people brought by the cathedral continued to migrate northward into the new realm, but there was a change in the demographics. Chelish iomedaens still arrived, but their ranks were also present of halflings he suspected that the church was using the migrants as cover for the bellflower network ferrying them to a clearly abolistionist inclined Iomedaen realm, and that with the declaration of monarchy would expect for him to take more. It was too early to be sure, but it was the sort of thing that also was unlikely to be broached in public but the church's apparatus provided vital good.
"You wished to speak about Armasse?"
She nodded. "Not solely that, but also the migrations of the barbarians through the realms."
He nodded, "That is fair, given the situation in Varnhold, and our many Kellid guests I feel we will need to improve our armaments."
--
Notes: Among other details, and I'll be honest I do prefer the original AP, but P2 isn't terrible is that Jamandi's patron deity (pg27) is apparently Milani. In any event the 2e book makes some adjustments for pacing, but otherwise changes some details for the sake of apparently changing details, or adding them I'd really have to have both side by side to be sure. In any event of Eire's perspective of events for 4712 are done, but with the monarchy we will attempt to focus on not just Amiri, and Valerie but the other companions in part through their companion events but through other interaction to explore the nascent kingdom of narland and its surroundings, which will touch on things like the bellflower network in Golarion, and the various half bloods. This segment itself is just a for better or worse something of post kingdom founding exposition.
What will probably happen is the events of Rivers Run Red will probably take place in 4714 with the attack on Tratzlford and run through that year culminating in Armag Twice Born's horde laying siege to Restov in most likely late 4715 or possibly spring of 4716 potentially under the current timetable with various events between. However with Drelev, and the Tiger Lords, and Pitax I am aim towards a different portrayal in the events something conveys more Tiger Lords mercenary status and provides Pitax a bit more cover than the almost mustache twirling high handedness of the AP where Pitax does just casually suborn Drelev and then launch an immediate or nearly so attack on the PC kingdom, which admittedly is not so unrealistic for history but it has pacing issues given scale.
Crowns were largely ceremonial fixtures. Most monarchs did not wear them for day to day business, at least not the ones used for the coronation of a new monarch. He felt the flashing memories of a brow ringed by a burning crown of stars. He didn't have to contend with that or of somewhat mortal formal circlets either.
He had a few days more. The truth was the proclamation of the monarchy, the nominal changes in suzerainty, of the Varnhold, the territorial divisions did not meaningfully effect the daily life of the average common person. It didn't even change the affairs of those who farmed on his four field systems with the horse collars. Really what was changing was almost emphemeral to the majority of people. It didn't effect the average man on the street so much as those that belonged to other elevated social classes.
This was predominantly was felt among the clergy, but that was itself likely a result of the over representation of divine casters at court and among the council and by product. The merchants and martial elites certainly were effected as well, but they were a small minority of the realm. The Church of Alseta, a minor taldan goddess, existed in Brevoy as well as Last Wall, and Absalom of course, but in particular she was also a member of the Elven pantheon being the unoffical patron deities of the elf gates.
The Rings ... of which Eire found his domain had more than one in his realm now. The Aiudara were even called Alseta's ring in modern day Isger. Yuelral was another deity of the elven pantheon with a growing presence, though in this case more popular among the growing population of half elves in the realm. That was in conjunction to small growing flock of the Church of the Guiding Hand who had already made their presence known... to Jaethal's frequent annoyance.
The migrations, the immigrants from southern lands added new faiths. Within Shrikewall, Chohar of Mzali, Adanye, and Osiris, stood among the good gods. As did the chuches of the empyreal lords Falayna, Andoletta, and Ragathiel. Most of these had arrived with the human populations from the Inner Sea, or at least nearby kingdoms, but there were other arrivals.
Though Munguk had little interest in associated with the small tribe of stone giants there was a community of them, and they venerated Minderhal. In addition to that they venerated Erastil's apparent sister, there was some disagreement on orthodoxy, Fandarra... of course the giants also claimed Erastil as Estig... but it was the same god just a variation on the name. The exact relationship between Minderhal and Erastil ... was equally unclear to Eire, and it was not a debate he intended to weigh in on. He had no interest in an internal doctrine debate within another church, and hoped that Harrim felt the same.
While the giant folk came over land the Humans and half elfs, particularly those from Cheliax and Taldor, came by river. The addition of new folk also counted catfolk, ratfolk and tengu as well as others some came from the caravans of the east, but most still the river. The others was on the item today as Kalikke sat in her spot on the council. It was impossible to avoid the inevitable politics of migration from the inner sea, and from the rivalry of the three continents' great powers, and their long storied histories and relations with one another.
Kelesh, Katapesh, Osirion, Andoran, Cheliax, and Taldor. The Great City of Absalom and nations further afield.
Eire adjusted his sleeve. He had expected there were going to be disagreements, schismatics, and arguments from the religious sectors. Of course there were going to be religious disagreements that were likely wholly unique to the kingdom as well. Legal disagreements and so forth as well.
With the growing population Eire found the river freedoms less and less likely to be realistic requirements. They meant nothing to the majority of the population, and yet the prohibition against slavery, and slaving had been codified in the dragon law... and oathbreakers die was certainly another one with an equivalency found with in, though it did make it a government matter, freedom of speech could be broadly equivalence to the first.
Beyond that slavery was an abomination, while the name did have differences 'you have you hold' was more or less in practice... though based on English common law's historical distinction between burglary and robbery where of course theft by stealth was more harshly punished common law. Of the six, the only long term potential one was walk any road float any river, and if it had just been freedom of movement (given the expectation of Courts are for kings) then Eire would have less potential issue.
... but it came down to slavery and the fact that the Inner Sea's great empires all had institutional slavery... but that was less contentious than the racial component and discrimination non humans tended to face. That was the larger potential problem than slavery itself, and thus far as nominally one of the River Kingdoms and with most trade sailing from Absalom rather than from the others they hadn't had a problem...
He twisted away from the the gilt painted vaulted ceiling, but Tristian was already volunteering, "I can go and speak with them your grace."
"Thank you." Eire replied, despite it was not precisely the outcome that Kalikke would have preferred... though he doubted the blue eyed Tiefling had formulated a quite completed idea... Tristian could be a little naïve at times but he was capable as a diplomatic envoy particularly in matters of the Sarenite faithful. They'd need a more defined diplomatic bureau of sorts later, but there were limits on what they could do. "I would remark that those wishing to settle and start new lives here are welcome to do so."
... but it was a long journey to ask people to make, and a potentially dangerous one. Something like fifteen hundred miles by sea and river, and one most successful with support. Support that the down trodden and oppressed in Qadira did not necessarily have in comparison to Cheliax where the Church of Iomedae was happy to assist relocating others... he supposed he could ask.
--
The truth was the meeting had worn on him, there simply was more that needed to be done. Whether Brevoy wished to recognize it or not the increasing tensions between rostland and issian factions had impacted Varnhold's accession into the realm. Vordakai had abducted thousands .... admittedly through the use of ancient cylopean relics to allow him to accomplish such a thing... but he had done it as the summer harvest was just mature. That meant it had put Varnhold's farmers behind taking it in and the kulchek spriggans had left the granaries open on top of that.
Even with Varnhold's abductees largely alive and unharmed it had set them back on the harvest, and with damaged fields, and behind on planting and just all around where a medieval community dreaded being. Hence the political reordering. Jamandi didn't seem to understand that, or the specifics too caught up in her own games in the north. Eire didn't have time for that.
"It is relatively apparent, that a tour of the realm needs to be organized before the first snows..." they'd been able to duck this particular feudal responsibility because they were building from the ground up, but it needed to be done. At the very least a return trip to Varnhold to make appearances even if neither he nor maegar intended to stand overly much on ceremony, but he needed to visit Oleg, and the town there, Nettle's crossing, the Thorn ford and the bronzeshield and Hereford as well as the lizard folk and old scyamore.
Amiri might have been openly contemptuous of the notion 'twice born' armag but there were a lot many thousands of migrating nomads who seemed to believe. That worried him. Even though Amiri viewed the gathering of different tribes, clans, followings, and other different groups based on ties of kinship or similar relation as ultimately a temporary gathering ... Eire feared the mustering of a great horde capable of laying siege to Rostland, and Brevoy. A threat that Jamandi looked to be completely ignoring, but if she was she was and there was little he suspected that could be done to change her opinion... much as he didn't expect to change Amiri's opinion until something else happened.
Of course if their goal was Numeria, if that was where they were travelling to that meant that they had to pass through Drelev, into the Glenebon and further west still. At least a hundred fifty miles overland with no good roads. Not that the nomads necessarily would have followed the roads, they lived off the lands, and chased game, followed their trails through the wilderness, and navigated by the stars in the night sky.
He took his hands out of his pockets and rested them on the arms of his chair, but didn't stand up. They weren't done yet.
"Where would we begin?"
Tristian had already volunteered to interact with the missions, but, "New Colton, I would think, perhaps then to Candlemere, then going up the Gudrin to Silverstep, and then north." The first two could be done day to day... unless there was something specific in the communities that needed to be addressed. That was the advantage of waterborne travel from the Tuskwater, but the journey to Varnhold would be another matter.
The elf nodded in response, and with some resignation Valerie copied the gesture, "I will make arrangements." The blonde paused, "If your grace would heed me though perhaps this would be better served as two separate trips. Armasse is approaching, and it would be in the realms interest to I think for you to be present."
He nodded. "Yes. Perhaps visiting Varnhold after Armasse concludes would be better." The meeting wound on as another day waned.
--
"Are you alright your grace?"
Eire stretched out feeling the magic flowing through the air. He wasn't even looking at anything in particular, but since the proclamation of king he'd been feeling off... different... to an entirely new degree from the changes he had seemed to undergo after the events of Lake Silverstep... which was only part of the reason he wanted to visit the lake.
There was no guarantee Silverstep lake would give him any insight into his condition.
He closed his fingers and brought his hand back in. He almost asked the blonde former Paladin what she would do if he suddenly lost form and did something insane like turn into a dragon... that was how momentarily fragile his grip felt.
Draw a sword?
Maybe. He didn't ask.
The notion of turning into a dragon though made him snort... oh yes that would have made all the current kobold drama pale in comparison. They had enough drama. "There is so much work to be done." The cartographical situation of the stolen lands was a grand project, and the geological forces that had shaped the land also informed them of the lands characteristics. He looked out over the lake's clear surface. At the ships... and at the tents pitched upon his shore. "What do you make of it all?"
"We have made tremendous progress your grace. No one should be able to dispute that." She began, and then stopped, and not for the first time Eire was reminded that Valerie came from established titular nobility. Her parents were brevic nobles, patrons of the ... a church, and that out of perhaps anyone on the council she probably understood the feudal dynamics the best, "Or at least none should." She amended.
Jaethal was an elf who had risen to rank high in Kyonin, before her fall from grace. The twins had seen high society in Qadira, and before their discovery and own tragedy.
They were entirely different animals socially, religiously, economically.
The throngs of people brought by the cathedral continued to migrate northward into the new realm, but there was a change in the demographics. Chelish iomedaens still arrived, but their ranks were also present of halflings he suspected that the church was using the migrants as cover for the bellflower network ferrying them to a clearly abolistionist inclined Iomedaen realm, and that with the declaration of monarchy would expect for him to take more. It was too early to be sure, but it was the sort of thing that also was unlikely to be broached in public but the church's apparatus provided vital good.
"You wished to speak about Armasse?"
She nodded. "Not solely that, but also the migrations of the barbarians through the realms."
He nodded, "That is fair, given the situation in Varnhold, and our many Kellid guests I feel we will need to improve our armaments."
--
Notes: Among other details, and I'll be honest I do prefer the original AP, but P2 isn't terrible is that Jamandi's patron deity (pg27) is apparently Milani. In any event the 2e book makes some adjustments for pacing, but otherwise changes some details for the sake of apparently changing details, or adding them I'd really have to have both side by side to be sure. In any event of Eire's perspective of events for 4712 are done, but with the monarchy we will attempt to focus on not just Amiri, and Valerie but the other companions in part through their companion events but through other interaction to explore the nascent kingdom of narland and its surroundings, which will touch on things like the bellflower network in Golarion, and the various half bloods. This segment itself is just a for better or worse something of post kingdom founding exposition.
What will probably happen is the events of Rivers Run Red will probably take place in 4714 with the attack on Tratzlford and run through that year culminating in Armag Twice Born's horde laying siege to Restov in most likely late 4715 or possibly spring of 4716 potentially under the current timetable with various events between. However with Drelev, and the Tiger Lords, and Pitax I am aim towards a different portrayal in the events something conveys more Tiger Lords mercenary status and provides Pitax a bit more cover than the almost mustache twirling high handedness of the AP where Pitax does just casually suborn Drelev and then launch an immediate or nearly so attack on the PC kingdom, which admittedly is not so unrealistic for history but it has pacing issues given scale.
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Arodus 4712
Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Arodus 4712
She tapped her foot under the table.
When she'd been a girl they'd called her the soft chieftain. How she'd wanted to be chief. Amiri had seen a lot as she had travelled through the Inner Sea and adventuring across Avistan... she had seen how city kings ruled, and everything she didn't like about how city people lived, and made their way through the world. For Amiri leaving the land of the mamoth lords had not really been a choice, but that had not meant finding ready acceptance in 'the outside world' beyond the ancestral kellid lands.
Adventurers delved deep into ancient and lost places. They sought the lost both people and things. They were hirelings protecting those who couldn't, or worse wouldn't protect themselves. Then there was the matter of 'organized religion', not that she thought of it that way, it was just ... calling on Gorrum, or the ancestors, the earth spirits of the green faith all made a certain amount of sense.
... Tristian spent entirely too much time talking about his goddess, and how nice Sarenrae was, though... which wasn't the only issue... but he was so soft it just highlighted it. Just as ... weird to Amiri was Eire's insistence to attend 'Mass', which were religious gatherings but they were so far as Amiri could tell the same formula read this book, talk about that ... it didn't make sense why you'd waste time doing it... which was what it seemed like to her
a waste of time.
Amiri to that extent was actually grateful she hadn't been born a cleric, or priest... someone needed to talk to the spirits sure, but no not her.
She watched the autumn haired ruler finish washing his face, even as one of the other clerics kept talking. "As far as public works project go your majesty..." Now it was Majesty, It had been your grace before... Amiri didn't really see what all had changed. Maegar was part of their following now... but how did that change anything for anyone else.
They were talking about a road, finishing the road to Maegar's town of Varnhold.
"And Armasse, sire?"
"Harrgulka will be assisting in reinforcing the turnpike to the west."
"Yes sire."
She decided to interrupt, "What about the Sharp Fangs?"
There was a pause, then the subtle change in body language more like watching the sky cloud, "Do you believe they are a threat to the realm? That I should act against them?"
Act... she stumbled over the prospect of the Kellid tribe, their latest visitors who had arrived as being at risk. Amiri grumbled that she was really talking about finding what they wanted... and that the barbarian especially the young warriors had been engaging in a lot of big talk that Amiri wanted to punch some of them over.
--
The eighth month of the year was named for Aroden, the last Azlanti in the Taldoran calendar, or the Arodenite calendar... it was complicated. Taldane the language shared its alphabetic script with that of Hallit, and Hallit borrowed a wide range of words from the southern tongue. Iobarian, Skaldic, and Dwarven all seemed to have shared with each other, and with Taldane... admittedly Skaldic seemed to be the western branch of whatever parent language had also eventually given rise to Iobarian. There was the matter of alphabet as well....
Today's business though only tangentially involved the written word in terms of recording things in writing. Hallit and its dialects were predominantly a spoken language, and most barbarians never learned to read.
That was unfortunate from a theological standpoint. The worship of major divinities like Erastil, and Desna abounded among them, but in aspects somewhat different than the Inner Sea's major churches. The venerated Gorrum most highly. They, and the Varisian travellers, were unlikely to see a point to converting to the Inheritor's church.
That wasn't per se a priority. There were many gods a man could pray to, and simply put the Kellid bands were not an ideal fit in culture to the tenants of civilization that rooted the broader arodenite church. Eire reached a long hand and pulled the sparking dragon child back. Tristian watched carefully, he had joined them this morning, as did Valerie and Amiri... who really it had been her idea... Jaethal was around here somewhere as well, "When I was a child I learned the story of steel. Do you know the riddle of steel?"
The blustering kellid warrior was tall, standing equal to Eire, and perhaps outmassing him by twenty or thirty pounds. He was a young man, probably Amiri's age his body written over with scars that painted bulging forearms and biceps. "I trust this." He declared patting his weapon a formidable greatsword made by his tribe's aged smith.
It was a good sword, well balanced with a long full tanged grip and robust pommel. It was even moderately enchanted, nothing to the level of Harrim's mace, or Valerie's sword, but impressive all the same. "Yes, a well cared for weapon can be trusted."
The Kellid warrior ground his teeth and paced the circle of equals that had been set around the bonfire for the tribes adults to hold the conversations that would determine what was important. Gannon here had been quick to find fault and speak up at every turn until finally he'd baited enough that it had been clear he wasn't going to stop until he had a fight to settle his youthful ego.
Jaethal and Amiri had both warned him about this in their own way that this was common among most Kellid tribes. If Kundal or Akiros had been present they likely would have made similar warnings. Amiri had even tried to go first, something which Kundal or Akiros might have also done he supposed, "the riddle of steel is not that it is strong for being rigid or unyielding." He had to be careful to avoid metallurgical comparisons here... specifying that Iron was rigid and unyielding but ultimately prone to rust and splintering that it was brittle. Steel was strong because it had tensile strength, "it is the steel in you hand is guided by that, by the commitment to your beliefs."
The overhead strike was telegraphed, but still surprisingly fast for a wholly mortal man. Especially one wielding a blade that by itself in excess of four feet and that even at the end of it was still almost a third of an inch just ahead of the point.
Eire's parry from his scabbard had mostly been focused on redirecting the sword, even though he could have stopped it fully cold if he had wanted to. Gannon cursed as his sword hit the lakeshore ground kicking dirt and pebbles up, but recovered with a grunt.
He threw a dirty look at the snickering from outside the circle but started warily circling suggesting that Gannon had been on the receiving end of better, more skilled swordsmen before... especially if this group had come up from Mivon as their previous stop. It was that possibility that had brought him to their campgroundsi n the first place just to find out what was going on in his southern neighbor now... but the Kellids weren't happy about the situation in Mivon, or things in the north and the blockage of hooktongue slough to travel. Gannon and some of the younger warriors had wanted to just charge up the slough and root out whatever the threat was in order to prove their martial vigor but they had been overruled.
Really who wanted to go through an unknown marshland if there were alternate routes. The kellids were more than just individual gorups of warriors, they were tribal bands with young and old apart of their groups moving from place to place. The course they treked to reach wherever Armag was holding his great gathering had to take into context the whole tribe not just hte most able bodied.
--
He took the offered cup and sipped as the great elk meat sizzled on the spit.
"You are a strange one Eire of Shrikewall." The grizzled shaman grunted. "I cannot see your past, and of your future I see only portents of war many corpses fed upon by eagles. I see fire."
"I see." Eire declined to indulge much in Durin's prophecy speaking role the shaman did for the Tiger Lords band.... but he wasn't going to immediately dismiss the portents the old kellid had claimed to have seen.
Armag's confederation besieging Restov lingered in the back of his own mind.
"Your city people will celebrate with arms soon." Durin observed. "Two weeks," he stroked his salt and pepper beard, "We cannot stay that long, but it is a good thing. Too many soft city people wouldn't do even that much. It must irk our lord in iron greatly." He said referring to Gorrum.
The conversation wound most the afternoon away. Time he would have spent touring New Colton, or its environs would have to be put off till tomorrow. Few details were seriously available about their distant cousins, and the branch of the tiger lords whose leader claimed to be the reincarnated Armag. The only consensus was that he was charismatic and had alreayd amassed a large following, and that they were willing to make the journey to hear what he had to say... the young warriors were especially eager to hear his message. As for Hooktongue slough no one knew, but the consensus was two fold there was still a monstrous threat in the marshland, and that secondly there was the matter of not wanting to fight Baron Hannis in the swamps themselves... which demonstrated good foresight.
The village which had been laid waste to decades ago by the corruption of the local nymph queen ... the curse turning her into a ravenous tree monster had never had a proper wall or any kind of fortification. Tiressia had never, nor had her people, seen the need for it, but they were going to have to establish more permanent fortifications. Not that she was hard to convince, Tiressia had understood the danger of the trolls and that even with Hargulka now on the correct side they could not rely on simple good will.
And what Tiressia could bring to the table were druids. It also helped that Kagar had come up from the longtails village to discuss things with a small company of lizard folk.They weren't here specifically for feudal obligation, but taht the Longtails in particular had always been relatively social as a tribe, they traded particularly for hardy metal goods weapons, pots, pans, so forth with native humans even discounting migration of humans across the stolen lands the new permanent settlements both at Shrikewall as well as New Colton meant there were a larger market for them to sell their goods as well as trade for goods they desired.
That was good for the longtails. Supply and demand were in play... especially since the longtails tended to speak better common than kobolds and there was a side job going on translating draconic, and so forth. Not that they thought of it in such terms. The Kellid warriors and the Longtails were barterings as much as using coin as a medium of exchange, which Eire would have certainly preferred if every exchange had been done in coin not kind, but that was simply a bit much to take in.
The Kellid tribes though made more distinction between a war leader and a chieftan, at least as separate positions. At least in comparison to how they understood kingship. It was easy to try and simplify from an outsiders position that any sufficently powerful chieftan of a confederation of tribes might as well have been a king... but it wasn't the same. A king in the land of the linnorm kings might have been similar but the Ulfen were not Kellids, and ultimately those Ulfen kings were not the same as dwarven kings with whom they shared similariities and certainly were the same as other monarchs in the south or in other directions.
For the Kellid rulership was a matter of ties of kinship, gift giving, leadership and prowess on a personal level, very different than the structured community and territorial arrangement of the Kingdom Eire was laying the ground work for. It wsa not simply the Kellids who still practiced these older traditions, the Ulfen and Iobarian humans north and east shared similar political practices.
She tapped her foot under the table.
When she'd been a girl they'd called her the soft chieftain. How she'd wanted to be chief. Amiri had seen a lot as she had travelled through the Inner Sea and adventuring across Avistan... she had seen how city kings ruled, and everything she didn't like about how city people lived, and made their way through the world. For Amiri leaving the land of the mamoth lords had not really been a choice, but that had not meant finding ready acceptance in 'the outside world' beyond the ancestral kellid lands.
Adventurers delved deep into ancient and lost places. They sought the lost both people and things. They were hirelings protecting those who couldn't, or worse wouldn't protect themselves. Then there was the matter of 'organized religion', not that she thought of it that way, it was just ... calling on Gorrum, or the ancestors, the earth spirits of the green faith all made a certain amount of sense.
... Tristian spent entirely too much time talking about his goddess, and how nice Sarenrae was, though... which wasn't the only issue... but he was so soft it just highlighted it. Just as ... weird to Amiri was Eire's insistence to attend 'Mass', which were religious gatherings but they were so far as Amiri could tell the same formula read this book, talk about that ... it didn't make sense why you'd waste time doing it... which was what it seemed like to her
a waste of time.
Amiri to that extent was actually grateful she hadn't been born a cleric, or priest... someone needed to talk to the spirits sure, but no not her.
She watched the autumn haired ruler finish washing his face, even as one of the other clerics kept talking. "As far as public works project go your majesty..." Now it was Majesty, It had been your grace before... Amiri didn't really see what all had changed. Maegar was part of their following now... but how did that change anything for anyone else.
They were talking about a road, finishing the road to Maegar's town of Varnhold.
"And Armasse, sire?"
"Harrgulka will be assisting in reinforcing the turnpike to the west."
"Yes sire."
She decided to interrupt, "What about the Sharp Fangs?"
There was a pause, then the subtle change in body language more like watching the sky cloud, "Do you believe they are a threat to the realm? That I should act against them?"
Act... she stumbled over the prospect of the Kellid tribe, their latest visitors who had arrived as being at risk. Amiri grumbled that she was really talking about finding what they wanted... and that the barbarian especially the young warriors had been engaging in a lot of big talk that Amiri wanted to punch some of them over.
--
The eighth month of the year was named for Aroden, the last Azlanti in the Taldoran calendar, or the Arodenite calendar... it was complicated. Taldane the language shared its alphabetic script with that of Hallit, and Hallit borrowed a wide range of words from the southern tongue. Iobarian, Skaldic, and Dwarven all seemed to have shared with each other, and with Taldane... admittedly Skaldic seemed to be the western branch of whatever parent language had also eventually given rise to Iobarian. There was the matter of alphabet as well....
Today's business though only tangentially involved the written word in terms of recording things in writing. Hallit and its dialects were predominantly a spoken language, and most barbarians never learned to read.
That was unfortunate from a theological standpoint. The worship of major divinities like Erastil, and Desna abounded among them, but in aspects somewhat different than the Inner Sea's major churches. The venerated Gorrum most highly. They, and the Varisian travellers, were unlikely to see a point to converting to the Inheritor's church.
That wasn't per se a priority. There were many gods a man could pray to, and simply put the Kellid bands were not an ideal fit in culture to the tenants of civilization that rooted the broader arodenite church. Eire reached a long hand and pulled the sparking dragon child back. Tristian watched carefully, he had joined them this morning, as did Valerie and Amiri... who really it had been her idea... Jaethal was around here somewhere as well, "When I was a child I learned the story of steel. Do you know the riddle of steel?"
The blustering kellid warrior was tall, standing equal to Eire, and perhaps outmassing him by twenty or thirty pounds. He was a young man, probably Amiri's age his body written over with scars that painted bulging forearms and biceps. "I trust this." He declared patting his weapon a formidable greatsword made by his tribe's aged smith.
It was a good sword, well balanced with a long full tanged grip and robust pommel. It was even moderately enchanted, nothing to the level of Harrim's mace, or Valerie's sword, but impressive all the same. "Yes, a well cared for weapon can be trusted."
The Kellid warrior ground his teeth and paced the circle of equals that had been set around the bonfire for the tribes adults to hold the conversations that would determine what was important. Gannon here had been quick to find fault and speak up at every turn until finally he'd baited enough that it had been clear he wasn't going to stop until he had a fight to settle his youthful ego.
Jaethal and Amiri had both warned him about this in their own way that this was common among most Kellid tribes. If Kundal or Akiros had been present they likely would have made similar warnings. Amiri had even tried to go first, something which Kundal or Akiros might have also done he supposed, "the riddle of steel is not that it is strong for being rigid or unyielding." He had to be careful to avoid metallurgical comparisons here... specifying that Iron was rigid and unyielding but ultimately prone to rust and splintering that it was brittle. Steel was strong because it had tensile strength, "it is the steel in you hand is guided by that, by the commitment to your beliefs."
The overhead strike was telegraphed, but still surprisingly fast for a wholly mortal man. Especially one wielding a blade that by itself in excess of four feet and that even at the end of it was still almost a third of an inch just ahead of the point.
Eire's parry from his scabbard had mostly been focused on redirecting the sword, even though he could have stopped it fully cold if he had wanted to. Gannon cursed as his sword hit the lakeshore ground kicking dirt and pebbles up, but recovered with a grunt.
He threw a dirty look at the snickering from outside the circle but started warily circling suggesting that Gannon had been on the receiving end of better, more skilled swordsmen before... especially if this group had come up from Mivon as their previous stop. It was that possibility that had brought him to their campgroundsi n the first place just to find out what was going on in his southern neighbor now... but the Kellids weren't happy about the situation in Mivon, or things in the north and the blockage of hooktongue slough to travel. Gannon and some of the younger warriors had wanted to just charge up the slough and root out whatever the threat was in order to prove their martial vigor but they had been overruled.
Really who wanted to go through an unknown marshland if there were alternate routes. The kellids were more than just individual gorups of warriors, they were tribal bands with young and old apart of their groups moving from place to place. The course they treked to reach wherever Armag was holding his great gathering had to take into context the whole tribe not just hte most able bodied.
--
He took the offered cup and sipped as the great elk meat sizzled on the spit.
"You are a strange one Eire of Shrikewall." The grizzled shaman grunted. "I cannot see your past, and of your future I see only portents of war many corpses fed upon by eagles. I see fire."
"I see." Eire declined to indulge much in Durin's prophecy speaking role the shaman did for the Tiger Lords band.... but he wasn't going to immediately dismiss the portents the old kellid had claimed to have seen.
Armag's confederation besieging Restov lingered in the back of his own mind.
"Your city people will celebrate with arms soon." Durin observed. "Two weeks," he stroked his salt and pepper beard, "We cannot stay that long, but it is a good thing. Too many soft city people wouldn't do even that much. It must irk our lord in iron greatly." He said referring to Gorrum.
The conversation wound most the afternoon away. Time he would have spent touring New Colton, or its environs would have to be put off till tomorrow. Few details were seriously available about their distant cousins, and the branch of the tiger lords whose leader claimed to be the reincarnated Armag. The only consensus was that he was charismatic and had alreayd amassed a large following, and that they were willing to make the journey to hear what he had to say... the young warriors were especially eager to hear his message. As for Hooktongue slough no one knew, but the consensus was two fold there was still a monstrous threat in the marshland, and that secondly there was the matter of not wanting to fight Baron Hannis in the swamps themselves... which demonstrated good foresight.
The village which had been laid waste to decades ago by the corruption of the local nymph queen ... the curse turning her into a ravenous tree monster had never had a proper wall or any kind of fortification. Tiressia had never, nor had her people, seen the need for it, but they were going to have to establish more permanent fortifications. Not that she was hard to convince, Tiressia had understood the danger of the trolls and that even with Hargulka now on the correct side they could not rely on simple good will.
And what Tiressia could bring to the table were druids. It also helped that Kagar had come up from the longtails village to discuss things with a small company of lizard folk.They weren't here specifically for feudal obligation, but taht the Longtails in particular had always been relatively social as a tribe, they traded particularly for hardy metal goods weapons, pots, pans, so forth with native humans even discounting migration of humans across the stolen lands the new permanent settlements both at Shrikewall as well as New Colton meant there were a larger market for them to sell their goods as well as trade for goods they desired.
That was good for the longtails. Supply and demand were in play... especially since the longtails tended to speak better common than kobolds and there was a side job going on translating draconic, and so forth. Not that they thought of it in such terms. The Kellid warriors and the Longtails were barterings as much as using coin as a medium of exchange, which Eire would have certainly preferred if every exchange had been done in coin not kind, but that was simply a bit much to take in.
The Kellid tribes though made more distinction between a war leader and a chieftan, at least as separate positions. At least in comparison to how they understood kingship. It was easy to try and simplify from an outsiders position that any sufficently powerful chieftan of a confederation of tribes might as well have been a king... but it wasn't the same. A king in the land of the linnorm kings might have been similar but the Ulfen were not Kellids, and ultimately those Ulfen kings were not the same as dwarven kings with whom they shared similariities and certainly were the same as other monarchs in the south or in other directions.
For the Kellid rulership was a matter of ties of kinship, gift giving, leadership and prowess on a personal level, very different than the structured community and territorial arrangement of the Kingdom Eire was laying the ground work for. It wsa not simply the Kellids who still practiced these older traditions, the Ulfen and Iobarian humans north and east shared similar political practices.