Getting from Magnimar to Ustalav

[roguesgallery]

So I'm planning on taking my group of 5th level characters from Magnimar, where they just finished Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, and into Ustalav, where we'll play another module.

I'm trying to decide what's the most interesting/obvious route they would use to travel such a great distance. A caravan going from the far eastern coast of Varisia, through orc territory in the Hold of Belkzen, and into Ustalav? Sail around into Conqueror's Bay and then up rivers into Lake Encarthan?

Just wondering if there are obvious trade routes where they could hire on as caravan guards or ship's guards, and maybe have a little adventure on the way to the adventure. I'm just starting to figure out the Inner Sea, and haven't got it all clear enough in my head to know the easiest/most interesting route to use, and thought others here might have ideas.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[The Drunken Dragon]

That all depends...how safe do you want to make it for them? The way I see it, you have three options.

1.) Travel by the northern road and through the edges of the Realm of the Linnorm Kings. Yes there are dangerous primodrial animals and wild kellid barbarians, but nothing major. However, unless our players want to dip through orc territory (more on that below), they'd have to take a slight detour through the Worldwound's outermost edges to get to northern Ustalav (getting them near Lepidstadt, if I remember my geography right). Demons are tough, so this road has that problem.

2.) Your second option is to travel south, along Varisia's coast, past Korvosa, and into Nirmathas. Nirmathas is fairly safe, as far as countries go, especially since your PCs will be staying on the western border, rather the eastern where all the Molthune hilarity is ensuing. They'll have to travel up through the massive woodlands there, which means encounters with evil fey might occur, and they might get lost...
However, going through the forest (whose name escapes me at the moment) will get them into Lastwall, which should be smooth sailing, and they can hire a carriage from Vigil to take them past Gallowspire and into Ustalav proper without encountering CR 15 undead monstrosities.

3.) The most direct option would be to slog through the Storval Plateau and into the Hold of Belkzen. There are ridiculous problems with this, though, as encounters with powerful orc tribes will constantly harry the PCs, and even if they can get across the Hold (a difficult feat even for a well-armed full military force, mind you) in one piece, they'll reach western Ustalav, where the suspicious locals will be giving them the stink-eye, wondering how exactly they made it across the Hold unless they were...how should we say, of a native persuasion? *shrugs* Golarion's not a great place for trade I'm afraid, especially northern Avistan. All roads are dangerous in this case.

[Fabius Maximus]

The Drunken Dragon wrote:

2.) Your second option is to travel south, along Varisia's coast, past Korvosa, and into Nirmathas. Nirmathas is fairly safe, as far as countries go, especially since your PCs will be staying on the western border, rather the eastern where all the Molthune hilarity is ensuing. They'll have to travel up through the massive woodlands there, which means encounters with evil fey might occur, and they might get lost...
However, going through the forest (whose name escapes me at the moment) will get them into Lastwall, which should be smooth sailing, and they can hire a carriage from Vigil to take them past Gallowspire and into Ustalav proper without encountering CR 15 undead monstrosities.

Since there are riverboats going down the Tourondel to Tamran, that would be the most direct route. Hiring a boat at Tamran to Ustalav shouldn't be hard.