After a quick (and distressingly light, from a halfling perspective) meal, the Pathfinders and their new rebel companions bed down for the night, with the rebels taking watches to keep an eye out for unwelcome surprises.
The following morning, Chops shakes everyone awake just before dawn, arranges an even lighter snack, and leads the way back to Artume. Once back in town, he heads for the waterworks that power the cargo cranes on the riverfront. The many passages and vaults of the waterworks form a confusing labyrinth, but Chops knows the way.
A series of twists and turns leads to a tall, vaulted space deep in the cliffside. Several canals meet up in this large underground chamber partly lit with lamps on the walls. Two great waterwheels turn under waterfalls that flow on the eastern side of the chamber. Clusters of barrels and crates are set around the chamber.
On the far side of the room stand an armored woman and a man clad in a hooded grey robe that shadows much of his face, as well as a handful of rebels. Chops raises a hand and calls out to the woman, ”Hey, boss! Got some folks you might want to meet, could be of use to us tonight.”
The woman raises a hand to stop Chops from speaking further, waving the Pathfinders forward as she replies, ”Thank you, Chops. As my friend here has likely told you, I am Nalla. And as he has hinted at, we have plans to return power to the people very soon. Our last ruler, appointed by Queen Sovella to rule in her stead, became a monster, and King Edryd could very well do the same, and the people would suffer again. I aim to prevent that, by having the people rule this land. What say you to this idea?”
”I am not from Andoran,” Nalla responds simply to Darlinger’s question. ”I was born and raised here in Artume, and have lived most of my life under the heel of the tyrant Waike’s boot.” She turns her head to respond to Hampton, but the grey-robed man, who was briefly introduced as Harsus, steps forward and speaks first, ”You would meet with the king? And why should we let you do that, why should we believe you would not simply reveal our existence and our plans to him? You have convinced Chops that you can fight, but I am not sure that you can be trusted.”
Chops grimaces a bit at this jab, but keeps his tongue.
Nalla considers Brynn’s question before saying, ”King Edryd has not been bad for the people of Artume yet. But the people should have control of their own future. I was part of the rebellion that dethroned Waike, the tyrant who had my parents killed, among many other people. We worked with the monks of Milani and slowly built a movement among the people, and defeated him!” She pauses a moment, then continues, her tone rueful, ”But the other leaders of the rebellion were older, they had fond memories of the reign of Edryd’s father, and when Edryd reappeared they stepped aside for him. But that is not what our rebellion stood for! We fought like the Firebrands, who have spread freedom from tyranny throughout Golarian, and we now fight under the Firebrand banner! As the leader of the Firebrands here, I serve the people of Artume, and I do not trust that King Edryd will serve anyone’s interests but his own.”
At Packet and Hampton’s revelations about Harsus, Nalla gives the man a long, studying look as he stays silent, then shifts her focus back to the Pathfinders. ”My companion here may have secrets,” she says, ”but the River Freedoms let people worship as they wish. And he makes a good point – you now know that we plan to overthrow the king tonight. You can join us in that just cause, or you can convince me that this knowledge will not be spread if I let you go about your business.”
|
Packet puffs thoughtfully on his pipe.
"By my understanding, the citizens of Artume are optimistic about King Edryd's rule. And by your own admission, he has not yet been bad for the people. I understand this may not be the outcome you wanted, and I understand 'Say What You Will, I Live Free', but this seems a stable rule so far. Perhaps with your experience and history, you could best serve as an adviser to the King?"
Nalla gives another sidelong glance at Harsus, then says to Darlinger, ”I held these beliefs long before I met Harsus, I assure you of that. The notion of giving power to the people did not come from him.”
She considers what Flint and Packet have to say, shaking her head slightly as if in disbelief, but her reply suggests some thought, ”Perhaps there is another way, though I doubt the king would be open to such an arrangement, not without some convincing. And I am interested to hear that you all, with an independent perspective, see the people as optimistic about Edryd’s rule. But I have seen true horrors inflicted on this land by a rule whose power was unchecked – what’s to stop that from happening again?”
Nalla is quiet for a long moment, and the sound of water rushing through the channels and pouring off the water wheels echoes through the vaulted room until she breaks her silence, ”I had not considered the parallels to the land of Galt, and I have no wish to take my country into that sort of madness. I will talk to the king, if he will agree to meet with me. Perhaps you could speak to him, as outsiders with no stake in the outcome, and sway him as you have me?”
Before anyone can reply, Harsus cries out, ”This is not why I joined you! This is not the plan!” He gestures to the rebels nearby and shouts, ”Kill them!” Stepping back behind one of the rebels, he raises a finger and points it at Flint, sending two glowing darts of force at him! "That'll teach you to meddle with my plans!"
|
Action 1: Command an Animal
- Stride
- Strike
Action 2-3: Produce Flame
"Robb! Bite!" Brynn commands the bear, gesturing at Harsus.
Robb plods forward and attempts to sink teeth into the Razmiran.
The druid then begins voicing an oddly deep intonation, muttering sounds that seem to pop and fizz. A ball of flame appears in her hands, which she tosses at Harsus
As the fight erupts, Nalla moves away from the fray and watches, clearly conflicted about the battle raging, and the loss of control of her supporters. Packet sends a chunk of stone flying toward the nearest rebel, and takes him down! Robb ambles forward lazily and halfheartedly bites at Harsus, wounding him! The Razmiran screams in pain as Brynn’s ball of fire burns him, and his shriek changes in tone as Flint’s hammer smashes into his shoulder! The Razmiran keeps his feet, but he looks much the worse for wear!
The rebels, clearly motivated by some loyalty to Harsus – and perhaps dedication to Razmir – leap to attack! An orange-haired woman draws a short-sword and steps up to Hampton, slashing at him! Another woman in leather armor dyed a faded blue color draws her weapon and moves up, attacking Flint! And a fellow wearing a yellow scarf does the same!
Harsus resists the effects of Darlinger’s dark tendrils, but it’s still enough to kill the Razmiran! The yellow fellow feels the full effect of the spell, but still stands! Hampton shifts his attack to the yellow fellow and cuts him down!
Flint gives the rebel in blue a knock on the head, and another, sending her crashing to the floor! The last rebel standing tosses her sword to the floor, holds her empty hands in front of her, and backs away from the fight - not running away, just getting away from the killing.
Nalla steps forward and says, ”Well, Chops was right, you can handle yourselves.” With a glance at Harsus on the floor, she adds, ”And you picked up on some details that were troubling me, but you put it together where I didn’t. I don’t mind who he worshipped – but I do mind that he lied to me, and seems to have recruited some of my own people to whatever his plans were.”
Setting this aside quite pragmatically, she continues, ”You made good points earlier, and this fight just underscored them – violence doesn’t solve everything, and it comes with risks. If you think you can sway the king to take me on as an advisor, I will fulfill that role to the best of my ability, and for the good of the people of Artume.”
After pledging to talk to the king, the Pathfinders leave Nalla, agreeing to meet her back at the waterworks in the afternoon. Using the list of Pathfinder agent names from Napsunar’s abandoned lodge, and their own deduction paired with their cordial natures, the party manage to find a descendant of one the Pathfinders, Pavo Crispin, who stayed in the area to start a family. The Crispin family has quite a long history in the area and they have grown to be a prominent members of Artume, so questioning a few residents is enough to locate the family house.
The house is a quite narrow three-story house in the better part of Artume, though it looks a bit timeworn. The descendant is named Aula Crispin, a gray-haired half-elf woman dressed in a green gown. She greets the party cordially enough, and asks how she can be of help. After a few moments of conversation, she says, ”Well, yes, Pavo was my great-great-ever-so-great grandfather. We’ve got a few family heirlooms that once belonged to him, an old journal and such. Would that be the sort of thing you’re interested in?”
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
”Well, aren’t you a nice young man?” Aula says in response to Darlinger’s suave delivery. ”I’d say you were a darling, but you seem somehow more than that, somehow, I don’t know…even darlinger?” She excuses herself a moment, then returns with Pavo Crispin’s keepsakes: a brittle, weathered journal, a tiny, wooden model of a building that resembles the decrepit lodge near Artume, and a belt buckle crudely etched with an image of a road heading off into the distance.
Aula bids the party goodbye, and they set out for the keep, to seek an audience with King Edryd. A path winds up to the steepest part of the rocky hill where Gildtmede Keep stands. This stretch of steep rock separates the keep from the town that spreads over the gentler slopes below. The path ends at a sturdy wooden gate covered by several arrow slits. A guard clad in a blue surcoat raises one hand while holding a crossbow by his hip, and calls out, “On what business do you approach the keep?”
”Well, that sounds like it might be worth the king’s time,” the guard says, waving the party forward. He gestures for another guard to lead the way to the throne room. Along the way, the Pathfinders can see that Gildtmede Keep is highly defensible due to its placement on the cliffs. Additionally, the towers and walls are designed to offer tiered defenses so that attackers must pay dearly for each foot gained to reach the main keep. The white stone interiors are clean and lean more towards practical needs than ostentatiousness.
Several minutes later, the party reaches the iron doors to the throne room, which are locked and guarded. After a brief conversation between the guards, the doors are unlocked and the Pathfinders are ushered in. A wide red carpet runs across this hall of white stone, leading to a dais with two thrones. Several statues and trophies line the walls of the hall as chandeliers light up the room. Light from outside shines through skylights set in the ceiling.
King Edryd, the imposing Queen Mother Sovella, and a monk introduced as Brother Karyn are engaged in conversation as the party enters.
”Good morning,” says King Edryd somewhat abruptly. ”I trust my guards had reason to bring you to see me. What brings you here?” The king, though a young man, has bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.
|
|
Hat in one hand and pipe in the other, Packet gives the king a bow.
"Your Majesty, we are Pathfinder agents, here to research a long forgotten Pathfinder lodge in Artume. During our stay, we had the pleasure of meeting a woman named Nalla. She was involved with the rebellion that overthrew Waike. She is a champion of the people of Artume, and we would ask that you speak with her to hear what she has to say. Her advice would be most useful."
”And what should I speak with this Nalla about?” the king asks, his tone softened a bit by Packet’s polite, deferential manner. ”I know the rebels are still active. They’ve been stirring up trouble in the countryside, to draw my guard away from the capital, I suspect. If she’s involved with them, she’s a threat to the kingdom.” He turns to look at Queen Mother Sovella and aks, ”What do you think of this proposal, mother?”
The hard expression on Sovella’s face reminds the Pathfinders that she has gone through many hardships to be where she is, having escaped the regent’s assassins and hidden away in a monastery for years with her son so that Waike would not finish the job. ”The people have a duty to obey their lawful king,” she replies, her tone clear and forceful. ”This is the very foundation of government, here in the River Kingdoms as elsewhere. If Nalla is a rebel, she has shown she cannot fulfill that duty. On the other side of the scale, the king is obliged to protect his subjects. In this case, that seems to mean he must protect them from people like Nalla, who would harm them to achieve whatever her goals are. A rebellion threatens to shake that foundation of government, and must be dealt with mercilessly.”
King Edryd listens carefully to his mother’s counsel, then asks, ”Well, Pathfinders, what say you? If Nalla means to overthrow me, why should I speak to her? Why should I trust her?”
|
"Sire, it's not that she desires to overthrow you, it's that she is in an impressionable place right now. Given the recent events here, she's nervous that it's a trend. By meeting, you can show her a different trend; the start of one at least. She has been burned. Meeting with her is succor for the wound. Not meeting with her makes for a more complicated situation."
”Wise words, for a warrior,” Edryd concedes with a nod. ”You suggest that I may be able to tip the balance at this delicate moment, that by extending a hand instead of a blade, I may make an ally rather than an enemy.” Gesturing to the monk standing silently nearby, the king says, ”Brother Karyn, your counsel has been so valuable to my mother and myself over the years. Tell me what you think.”
Brother Karyn, an androgynous and seemingly ageless monk of Milani, steps forward gracefully. He considers Packet and Flint, who have each spoken, his eyes unreadable, before he speaks.
Holding out one hand, as if weighing some intangible matter in it, he responds, ”As you know, sire, I have served at Everbloom, the monastery of Milani, for a great while, since before your father founded the kingdom of Artume. I have come to know you well, and have grown fond of you, as did all the brothers who helped to raise you. I see you as a rightful ruler with a good heart. At the same time, the tenets of my faith compel me to be sympathetic to the desire of the people to have a say in their governance.” He holds out his other hand, making a gesture of both hands as if they form a scale with weighty considerations in the balance, and goes on, ”Actions, however, have consequences. Nalla and the other rebels must face some consequences for the trouble they have already caused, though such punishments must be meted out judiciously.”
Edryd turns back to the Pathfinders, raising his eyebrows in a clear question: What do you say to that?
|
"So you want to be a ruler without mercy? Here you have a woman who has the interest of the people as her motivation, hoping to make things better, and instead you'd jail her? Do not punish her, but instead take her own as your adviser. It will show the people what a kind and generous leader you are. Remember, it is often best to go for the hearts of your people!"
King Edryd actually smiles at Darlinger’s words, a genuine, kind smile. ”You all make good, strong arguments, and you make them from the heart,” he offers. ”It seems to me you stand to gain nothing from this effort, except to resolve a difficult situation, and that means a great deal to me.”
”I feel you have addressed the important points raised by my mother, and my trusted advisor. What I ask of you now is a clear sense of what you are asking. Tell me what role you would see Nalla serving, why she is suited to that role, what value it would bring. In short, make your case and sell me on it.”
For all her careful study, Brynn has a hard time reading the king's true feelings on the matter at hand.
|
|
”I suggest that you form a council, if you haven’t already, and Nalla serve as a representative of the common folk of Artume. She clearly has their best interests at heart, having grown up here herself. I’m sure you would benefit from having such insight into the people, perhaps even avoiding further uprisings. And perhaps this service can suffice as a consequence for her actions?”