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One of my PCs wanted to know why the Swordlords decided to gift the charter explore the Greenbelt to three outcasts and misfits (a human mercenary, a gnome bard, and an exiled elven ranger). Oleg and Svetlana Leveton explained to the trio that they were not the first group to try to settle these lands.
The Nettles Expedition, as it would later be called, would be the vanguard of the Swordlord's aggressive territorial expansion into the Stolen Lands. Once roads and bridges were built, colonists would settle the fertile lands of the Greenbelt.
Alas, the Nettles Expedition ran afoul of a large and organized bandit presence led by the mysterious Stag Lord. While the expedition succeeded in clearing out one bandit outpost and establishing a beachhead at the northern tip of the Greenbelt (now Oleg's Trading Post), it was ill-prepared to face the cunning Stag Lord and his vicious minions. After a series of catastrophic skirmishes within the Narlmarches and the surround hillside, the expedition's forces were ultimately defeated in a decisive battle along the banks of the Shrike River.
In a final act of desperation, Nettles burned his own bridge down to stop the bandits' inexorable advance north to civilization. With his expedition in tatters, Nettles cursed the man who took everything from him and then took his own life by plunging into the ice cold river below.
Due to being assigned to guard the cleared fort, Oleg is the only man to survive the ill-fated expedition. Unbeknownst to him, Nettles is now an unholy undead creature. His burning thirst for vengeance and the collective trauma felt by all the men who fell in the bloody battle fuel his new existence.
Six months later, the PCs arrive on the scene with a new charter from the Swordlords. Still smarting from their lost investment, the Swordlords' new charter places the emphasis on eliminating banditry "by sword or by rope." Their new investment is minimal, and their expectations are low. This new expedition, if it can even be called that, would be easily replaceable and no one would miss a sellsword and a bunch of demihumans.
Any thoughts/feedback would be greatly appreciated!
I'm always in favor of anything that adds flavor to the world and this certainly does that. I like it! It has the added bonus of allowing the PCs to feel a bit like bad-arses when they do finally defeat the Stag Lord -- something the earlier, "more talented" expedition couldn't do. So this has a nice double positive in that regard.
Fortunately, my players didn't really question it and just ran with it so I didn't have to worry about it, but if they had, this would have been a great answer!
I also wanted to address the relatively low number of bandits in the region. All told, there are about 20 including Kressle's camp. The bandits were originally a much larger force, but fighting against the Nettles expedition reduced the bandits' numbers significantly. In short, PCs are quite fortunate to arrive at the Greenbelt when they did!
I took a slightly different approach and had a few more bandits in there. After all, they are an option as a random encounter in the table. I just had all the random bandits also work for Staggy. Even so though, 20 bandits would be pretty hefty to deal with for most groups/expeditions, especially when you consider all the other hazards in the region.