Golarion Day: Report from Kintargo—Rival Guide

Thursday, March 10, 2011

It's been quite a few weeks since my last report. I've learned a lot since then... too much to reveal to you all in a single report, but I wanted to make sure those idiot Thrunies weren't on to me. Looks like I'm safe, though. I've kept an eye out for Thrune agents since my last report, but haven't seen or heard anything. Which means it's safe for me to start sending regular reports!

One thing I noticed in the vaults below Egorian was a sizable collection of intelligence on numerous adventuring groups active throughout the Inner Sea region. At first I thought this was just the Thrunies keeping track of potential enemies, but after sifting through the stacks, I realized it was quite the opposite. They've been watching a lot of cults, mercenary groups, and other troublemakers who they hope to ally with, perhaps to use as agents to send against their enemies. And since the enemy of Thrune is my friend, I figured that letting my friends know about enemies they don't know about yet would be a good thing. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, my point is that Thrune's collected quite a bit of information about these potential rivals, and I snatched dossiers for ten of them. I've sent them on to the Pathfinders, and they've promised to publish the information when they get a chance. They're thinking of calling it something like "A Comprehensive Guide to Rivals," despite the fact that I think the shorter "Rival Guide" is more to the point and doesn't imply that these are the only rivals we'll ever face. Just ten groups of them.

Illustration by Eva Widermann

Of those ten groups, we've got a mercenary band from Brevoy more active these days in the River Kingdoms, a sadistic group of incredibly powerful adventurers, some elf-hating agents of the Aspis Consortium down Sargavawards, a bunch of crazy pirates led by some sort of haunted oracle, some foolhardy giant-hunters up in Varisia, a group of slavers led by a barbaric gnoll down around Katapesh, some freaky assassins or murderers up in Ustalav, and even the Queen's Hands—a group of relentless investigators who work for Queen Abrogail herself. (Fortunately, the Queen's Hands don't seem to get up to the north side here that often.) The Pathfinders were obviously most interested in some group based in Absalom—the Poisoned Lodge, or some such—a group of poisoners and drug dealers that have been annoying some of the Pathfinders of late. But to me, the most interesting group was probably the Dust Coven—a group of exiled drow worshipers of the demon lord Shax who have been cutting a murder-swath through the Inner Sea of late. Their leader is a witch (who seems to have been reincarnated from a drow into an annis hag, if the rumors are to be believed) who specializes in all sorts of magical dusts and powders—I'm including descriptions of two of these in this report. They'll be in the "Rival Guide" or whatever that book ends up being called, along with lots of other information about these groups and the specialized magic, spells, and tools they use. I'm also including an illustration of the Dust Coven's sign—the rune of Shak gripped in a creepy-looking hand. (Someone could do with a manicure.)

In any case, make sure to check the book out when you see it, but if you're reading it where the Thrunies might see you... take care. They'll probably get pretty angry once they see the book on store shelves.

Shensen
Old Cheliax Shall Rise Again!