For the last few weeks, the party has been traveling by ship, in the company of Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine, from Absalom up the Sellen River and eventually to the River Kingdoms. After several days of rainy sailing, the clouds roll back just before she ship arrives at the Pathfinders’ destination, the tiny Kingdom of Artume.
The ship slides into dock as crews of gnome engineers operate hoists protruding from the towering cliffside overlooking the river. Large bundles of goods glide through the air at the end of sturdy ropes, down to ships at the docks and up to vaulted openings in the cliffside. Above the cliff, the white walls and towers of a keep reflect the morning sun.
The ship sways gently in its berth as sailors ready a gangplank and throw ropes to dockhands. Not long after the plank slams against the dock, a dwarven man strides up from below deck, dressed in a white shirt and a black vest. This is none other than Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine. As he crosses his arms, toned by decades of hard work, he nods towards the town that spreads on the slopes around the keep, “Bet you’re eager to get on your way. The Society needs you to find an old lodge. I hear it’s northeast of the town. Learn any details you can about Kerinha Napsunar and report back to me. Also, a lot’s changed with the new king and all. People don’t always like change. I’d like to know if there’s trouble brewing. I’ll be conducting some business in town. You can contact me at the River Steed Inn.”
Smine points to a fancy three-story building that stands above the cliffside a bit south of the keep, “So that’s two missions: find the lodge and keep your ears open. Any questions?”
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Hampton, a lanky, bald half-elf with the bronzed skin of an Osiriani, is pleased to see his friends Packet (from Trailblazer's Bounty) and Flint (from Grehunde's Gorget) again, and chats amiably with Darlinger and Brynn as the vessel winds its way toward the River Kingdoms.
Someday, I will get a mission that brings me someplace warm, the half-elf mutters aloud, pulling the leathers in closer as they disembark. Today is not that day.
Upon hearing the direction from Smine, Hampton nods. Quite agree, he says, lodges rarely just vanish. Was it abandoned for a particular reason? And who is — or was — this Kerinha Napsunar?
”Don’t know much about the lodge,” Smine answers gruffly as he shoulders a traveling bag and makes his way to the gangplank, ”that’s why the Society wants you to learn what you can.”
He pauses at the top of the plank to study the elaborate mechanisms that hoist cargo up the cliff face, an appreciative smile slowly lifting one side of his mouth before he speaks, ”As to Kerinha Napsunar, she was part of the Society some three-hundred, four-hundred years ago. One of Durvin Gest’s peers. Pathfinder agents found out about her early exploits a few months back. She was politically savvy and willing to risk a lot for historical artifacts. For one, she established a smuggling ring in Rahadoum to save religious relics. She came here and founded a Pathfinder lodge. After that, it’s your job to find out.”
As the party chats with Smine and makes their way up the bluff and into town, Darlinger recalls a long, drunken conversation he once had with a woman from the River Kingdoms, who talked at great length about the Six River Freedoms.
Say What You Will, I Live Free
This is the freedom of speech (and not to be confused
with freedom from the consequences of your words).
Criticism of government is common in the kingdoms,
and lords of the kingdoms who are lenient with loose
tongues are likely to live longer.
Oathbreakers Die
Making an oath is a huge deal for the people of the
River Kingdom (where trust is hard to come by and
earned in blood), and this freedom grants the people of
the kingdoms leave to persecute anyone that breaks an
oath. Riverfolk who take on oaths usually keep them
or die trying.
Walk Any Road, Float Any River
This freedom prevents lords of the River Kingdoms
from blocking travel over land and water, including
charging tolls for passage. In particular, this means that
no lord may own the mighty Sellen River, although it
also means that every river barge is its own kingdom
with its captain being the king.
Courts Are for Kings
One of the most basic freedoms of the River Kingdoms,
this one holds that all laws within a River Kingdom
are flexible, and that rulers of a kingdom may do as
they wish. Visitors to a river kingdom —be they king or
commoner—are bound by the (often arbitrary) laws of
that kingdom.
Slavery Is an Abomination
People who escape slavery are an important fact of life
in the River Kingdoms. A formerly enslaved person who
escapes to the River Kingdoms is considered truly free.
You Have What You Hold
This freedom draws the moral distinction between
burglary and robbery. Burglary, or the taking of
another’s property without their knowledge, is
considered offensive and is punishable under common
law, as it robs the victim of the ability to defend him
or herself. In the River Kingdoms, it is more preferable
to face your robber and be allowed the opportunity to
resist. It is acceptable to take what you want by force.
As the Pathfinders ask around a bit about the lost lodge, a scruffy-looking, lanky hunter scratches her head and gives Packet some fairly precise directions to the ruined village where the lodge might once have been.
Flint and Hampton stroll along, reminiscing about their recent underwater adventure, and a couple of locals join in out of curiosity. They all get to talking, and the Pathfinders can’t help but notice that the atmosphere in Artume is lively and there doesn’t seem to be widespread resentment toward the new king, and many seem to be optimistic about Edryd’s rule.
Society
Diplomacy
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Swaying on the deck, Packet holds onto his pith hat with one hand, and his wooden pipe with the other.
”Can’t say I fully understand how a lodge could go missing, but fear not, Detective Packet Spoonshine is on the case. Don’t believe I’ve ever been to the Kingdom of Artume before. What can you tell us about this new king? Oh, and has there been any mention of supper yet? Not that I’m hungry mind you, but it’s probably best to start planning ahead.”
Smine considers Packet’s question about the king – and appears to pay no mind at all to the vital issue of dinner – then replies, ”Well, that’s not so simple a thing. The old king, Drellis Artume, was assassinated two decades ago. Sir Waike, who was a crusader, I think, was made the regent. He decided he liked power, and didn’t want to give up the throne. So he tried to kill Queen Sovella, who was pregnant at the time. She fled to a Milanite monastery called Everbloom. Waike was a slag heap of a man and a ruler, so eventually the populace rebelled with the support of the monks of Milani. Edryd, son of Drellis and Sovella, was of age by then. He’s King Edryd now.”
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"Fascinating," a half-elven woman of Shoanti heritage adds, but doesn't elaborate. Instead she adjusts the buckles and straps on her leather armor, then checks the string of her longbow. A young bear sits placidly beside her, which you've all heard her refer to as 'Robb'. The tale of how she found him at the bottom of a church well is one of the few tales she readily tells.
When it becomes apparent that others are expecting her to say more, she shrugs and says, "If the Lodge has surrendered to time and has been consigned to the wilds it is best it stays that way. But yes, we should at least know what remains and, if possible, what befell it. In this, I feel Gozreh wills it."
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"Tried to kill a pregnant woman? Sounds like he needs a warhammer up his arse!" Flint smolders at the image of the crusader's deeds. Flint's beard and hair are lighter than the rest of his clan, but still a deep brown with streaks of copper. His armor is polished to the point that it can be difficult to look at in the sun. His leather gear is well oiled, and well loved. Across his back for now, a steel shield bearing the symbol of Torag gives a clear indication of Flint's calling. Torag's champions are a proud lot, and Flint is every bit the stereotype.
"Well, let's get on with it!"
With Flint’s urging, the Pathfinders opt to waste no time, and set out to find the abandoned village. Rolling plains stretch to the horizon outside Artume’s walls, bisected occasionally by the creeks, rills and small rivers that give this land its name. The road leads north alongside the Sellen River. Smaller paths and side roads branch off towards the eastern plains, where mounted riders herd livestock across the grasslands. Beyond the grassy hills opens up a gloomy valley, where a snaking river flows sluggishly toward the Sellen. Over the centuries, the river has turned the valley into marshland.
With a little help from Hampton, Brynn feels she is leading the party in the right direction, and blazing a reasonable trail toward the abandoned village. After a mile or so of walking, Packet and Darlinger call out, stopping Flint just before he boldly strides into a dangerous quagmire!
Flint studies the grasping bog in front of him, leaning close and touching its surface with the bottom of his shield. He notices ripples traveling slowly across its viscous liquid surface. With a bit of sloshing around his shield, he makes a pattern of ripples that travel reluctantly though the goo before stopping at slightly firmer ground. This makes the boundaries of the quagmire clear to the Pathfinders, allowing them to travel safely around it!
After a few more hours of travel, the party reaches a shallow valley where it seems the village once stood. Thanks to Brynn and Hampton’s pathfinding, the party reaches the site in the full light of day. Nestled next to a lone hill is a drab-looking village where many of the houses have collapsed, sinking slowly into the morass. On a hillside, overlooking the village, resides a weathered, two-story house with a broken tower.
Since this structure stands out and seems worth exploring, the party heads up to explore it. Getting closer, they can see a dilapidated wooden house looming on the windy hillside. The empty window frames and doorways reveal the building’s dreary interior. An old tower juts upward from the building’s southwestern corner.
Packet moves silently into the dilapidated structure. He can tell that the floors here are badly rotten, and he can see most of the inside of the building, given the missing doors and holes in the walls. From where he stands, he cannot see into the base of the house’s tall tower, but he can hear scratchy, skittering noises in that direction.
The party moves into the dilapidated old building, all of them moving cautiously but for Flint, who strides across the creaking floorboards and deeper into the structure.
From where they are in the first room, Flint and Hampton see some dark shapes moving high up in the adjacent tower room. It's a little hard to see, but there appear to be an unsettlingly large number of legs on each of the shapes!
Brynn doesn't seen anything from where she stands, but she can tell from Flint's alarmed look as he scrambles to his feet that whatever he sees is in the crumbling tower.
Packet moves forward to get a better view, and finds himself tangled in a mass of sticky webs spread across the doorway! Fortunately – or perhaps not - from where he is, he can see more clearly up into the tower, where he can make out the shapes of two spiders bigger than him, as well as a couple of swarming clusters of smaller spiders, which are only the size of his hand!
Packet struggles against the web but can't get free. As Flint approaches the doorway, he sees more sticky masses of web in the way! He moves past them, sweeping them out of the way as he moves to where he can more clearly see the spiders above!
Packet’s struggles with the web seem to only tangle the little fellow further!
One of the large spiders, with glittering black eyes, scuttles along the ceiling, then drops on a filament of web to where it can reach Packet! It bites at him with a pair of massive, pointy fangs! The other big spider, its legs coated in a fuzz of fine blue hairs, crawls along the wall, then turns its huge body and sprays a mass of sticky silk at Flint!