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Sunday, the 24th of Erastril, 4716 AR

Our story begins in the mansion of an Aldori Swordlord. A sprawling complex of disjointed corridors and vast, open gardens. The building itself is a magnificent stone structure, rising amidst the various barrooms, alehouses, shops, and dueling academies that litter the streets of the great free city of Restov. With the gentle passing clouds rolling lazily through the sky on this otherwise sunny and temperate one would never even suspect that from such simple beginnings such a grand tale was being set into motion.

Several weeks ago criers began to decry around the kingdom of Brevoy and even into several outlying countries that the fabled Swordlords of Restov had put out a call for bold adventurers, promising great rewards for those willing to strike out into the untamed Stolen Lands to the south. The criers declared that any bold enough to take up the Aldori on their request was to report the mansion of one, Jamandi Aldori in Restov and await further instruction there.

It didn’t take long before adventurers near and far began the journey to the south of Brevoy in hopes of claiming this ‘grand reward’ promised by the noble Swordlords. Several other bands of adventurers have been seen arriving and departing from the mansion already in the weeks prior and today is no exception.

As Signy Birkirsdottir sauntered into the grand hall of the mansion, a truly massive chamber with a vaulted roof supported by a series of cobblestone pillars she reckoned to be the size of your average church to Cayden Cailean himself, quite the scene was laid out before her. Guards clad fully in heavy armor, each polished to a mirror-like shine, stood patiently in every corner and beside each pillar of the massive room, their eyes diligently scanning their surroundings for any sign of funny business. Betwixt them a decadent and sumptuous red carpet sprawled before her, leading all the way from just after the tremendous oaken doors she had just passed through all the way up to a raised platform at the very end of the room where resided a single leather-backed chair with a long wooden desk before it cluttered with various tomes and maps. The desk was flanked by a pair of gorgeous tall silver candelabras whose flickering flames danced in the reflection of the various weapon racks set against the back wall of the room, aided in their task of illumination were several magnificent chandeliers hanging graciously from the towering ceiling above. Just behind the lone chair draped a great banner bearing the symbol of the Swordlords who called this place home. A winged golden blade set upon a shield and backed with a vibrant field of red.

The most striking feature of the room by far, however, was the motley crew assembled there just before the platform itself whispering amongst themselves. A stunning Taldan woman with long dark hair stood in the middle of the room gazing about her surroundings and flashing a confident smile towards Signy as she approached, from her posture and seeming comfort in such a fancy setting she seemed the most comfortable in her current surroundings. By her side a small gnome woman with eyes of vivid green and hair the color of the falling sun and clad in a huge blue quilt several sizes too large for her and a skull helmet leaned on her hawthorn staff and muttered the occasional word towards the human woman at her side though it was apparent to Signy, even at this distance, that her gaze and attention would constantly shift to the man who stood alone in the corner. The mysterious figure she thought must be a man based on what she could make of his build and posture, wore a dark cowl shrouding his entire form and leaving his face entirely cloaked in shadow. A chill trembled down Signy’s spine as she gazed into the void unknowing if it gazed back. With a shiver she turned her head once more and her eyes settled on a familiar sight. A young, daringly handsome aasimar man stood before her waiting patiently for the proceedings to begin and running his hands through his beautiful white hair. Signy figured she’d see him here, these two had crossed paths before and she had seen his mastodon pup outside of the manor, along with the most peculiar horse she’d ever laid eyes on.

”Ahem.” A soft voice by her side called out to Signy snapping the woman to attention. I-I’m terribly sorry if I startled you miss. The young Ulfen man beside her warbled his deep blue eyes darting between her own and the floor as though he dare not allow them to linger on her own for too long. Signy even thought for a moment she could see a glimmer of red in those deep blue eyes of his but with them darting sound so much, it must have just been her imagination. He was a slight man, especially for an Ulfen and Signy could have easily mistaken him for a woman at first glance though now at this close distance it was much easier to identify. His trembling hands played with a long braid on the right side of his messy red hair as he nervously mumbled on. It would seem you are the last to arrive. The, uhm well you see, the lady will be here very shortly. I-In the meantime please feel free to acquaint yourself with the other guests I suppose. The pale young man flashed an awkward smile and made for the door before spinning back around quite suddenly, his eyes wide and his voice slightly too loud in the panic of realizing he had nearly forgotten to ask. Oh yes! Um- would you like a refreshment of some sort!?

Alright everyone, this is it! The begining of our bold adventure we shall be delving into with one another. This is as exciting for me as it is for you as I'm new to DMing PbP so I hope you'll all be kind to me as I will be to you <3

Without further ado, this is the OOC chat where you'll all be able to discuss the game and ask me any questions you would like answered.

I'll open the game itself on Monday so in the meantime I'd recommend getting to know one another, establishing if your characters know each other and how, and making any last minute adjustments to your character sheets if you want to even out some skills or roles you'll play in order to balance the party. On Monday after my first post all builds are final.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

Also if you have any topics you would wish avioded in game (potential triggers and the such) please either tell me here or in PMs as is most comfortable to you and I will do my best to work with your needs.

Anyways, welcome and congratulations! I hope we can all have a long, happy adventure ahead of us in the Stolen Lands!

Brevoy is a proud land, known throughout Golarion for producing able warriors, regal nobles, and clever rogues. Yet Brevoy’s two regions, Issia and Rostland, have long held one another in contempt and now stand on the verge of civil war. Both Issia and Rostland were independent nations until Choral the Conqueror’s barbarian armies and red dragon servitors united the regions into a single kingdom two centuries ago. Until recently, the iron rule of House Rogarvia maintained a fragile peace between the two regions. But a decade ago, House Rogarvia mysteriously disappeared, and the conniving leaders of Issia’s House Surtova supplanted them as Brevoy’s rulers. Now a labyrinthine political landscape plagues the nation, full of secret alliances, provincial loyalties, and nefarious plots; civil war seems inevitable. In Rostland to the south, the swordlords see in many of Issia’s recent political moves the swift approach of such a war. They rightly fear such an event, for Rostland is smaller than Issia, it has fewer armies, and its rolling hills and grasslands offer very little in the way of natural defenses. Worse, unlike Issia, whose northern border stretches along the Lake of Mists and Veils, which offers some defense, Rostland’s southern border lies along a stretch of wilderness infested with bandits and monsters. If Brevoy falls into civil war, it won’t be long at all before the violent, opportunistic vultures to the south move to take advantage of Rostland’s problems.

This southern region of wilderness is called the Stolen Lands. While these lands are technically a part of the River Kingdoms, several of which have advanced claims in the past, Rostland has long viewed them as “stolen” from it by bandits and monsters. Many attempts have been made to settle the Stolen Lands, but to date, none have succeeded, making these 33,000 square miles of unclaimed wilderness the largest swath of unclaimed land in the entire River Kingdoms. As tensions mount in Brevoy, some of Rostland’s swordlords hope to change that fact; they have issued charters to several groups of adventurers, sending them south into the Stolen Lands.

These initial charters are simple enough: re-open the old trade routes along the rivers and scatter or defeat the bandits who have made them too dangerous to use. Beyond that, it seems apparent that Rostland wants to encourage new nations to grow in this region—and believes that by supporting these nascent kingdoms as allies, it’ll gain loyal support in any coming conflict with Issia. It’s a bold and brilliant political move—for if Rostland turned its own resources to the task, not only would such a move weaken its defenses against the north, but the blatant power grab would certainly force Issia’s hand. By sending free agents south, the swordlords of Rostland hope to create new allies without sacrificing their own position
of power in Brevoy.

Yet as with most complex and brilliant plans, there are plenty of opportunities for disaster.

Alrighty well, hi there everyone! I've been wanting to play this adventure path for a long time but ever since COVID hit it's been really difficult to het a group together at the table so I've decided to give play-by-post a try! Not gonna lie, I'm not super experienced in it but I am a pretty good writer and I absolutely love to flesh out the world with every gory little detail~

So hopefully you're prepared to take this ride with me and correct me (politely) if I make some mistakes along the way. What I can promise you all is time, effort, and dedication <3

There is a one post per day requirement. You get 3 strikes per month then it resets. Message me for exceptions.

I will be recruiting 4 characters.

Recruitment closes on 03/06/2021 at 0400 GMT -7