Chronological Length of RoW

[RJChristensen]

I was just wondering if anyone had a time length for character completing the question to rescue Baba Yaga in Reign of Winter. I was wondering how much time should pass between the climax of "The Shackled Hut" to when the PCs return to Whitethrone with the rescued Baba Yaga in order to flesh out a timeline for a Iron Guard/Heralds of summer's Return interim government. That, and two of the PCs may have fathered children with Nadya Petska and Greta the Winter Wolf

[Cap'n Coal]

Canonically speaking, time on Earth and Golarian passes at the same rate. The Dancing Hut travels to its destination instantaneously, so there's no time lost travelling to Triaxus or Earth.

So it depends on how long it takes the party to clock the adventure and most importantly, how long you as the GM think is the most interesting length of time to pass.

Just keep in mind that the eternal winter that is gripping the world represents a global extinction event. Even a year would be enough to kill some species and induce famine in some parts of the world. There's also the matter of Baba Yaga's geas, which theoretically prevents the party from engaging in too much downtime activity.

[Zhangar]

The amount of time that should pass is literally however much time it takes to complete the campaign.

I think Book 2 is technically the longest in actual time simply because the trip from Waldsby to Whitethrone takes nearly a month.

I don't remember the travel in Book 3 being that lengthy - like a week or so? And the party might have teleport by the time they're done in Artrosia.

While an even greater amount of distance has to be covered in book 4, the party should have dragonkin assistance if they didn't botch at Spurhorn, and pretty much the only things faster than dragonkin are windwalk, teleport, and true dragons. Dragonkin can haul ass, is what I'm saying. (Over twice a horse's overland speed, and completely ignore terrain.)

Book 5 and Book 6 have relatively little actual travel, just lots of fighting - both should be completed in a few days of game time.

[Serum]

Zhangar wrote:

I think Book 2 is technically the longest in actual time simply because the trip from Waldsby to Whitethrone takes nearly a month.

It takes 9 - 11 days to get from Waldsby to Whitethrone.

To anchor the timeline on this, the book expects that:

Shackled Hut location and time spoilers:

Nazhena's Hunters show up after the PCs have left Ellsprin on day 8, so they show up somewhere between D and E. E and F occur on the same day, and the PCs will probably rest before going into the Howlings the day after. The uncertainty comes from whether or not you think the PCs can make it between D and E in 1 day. Personally, I went with:
Arrive in Ellsprin on day 7
Leave Ellsprin on day 8
Encounter Nazhena's Hunters in the afternoon of day 8
Make it to the troll bridge in the early afternoon of day 9
Enter the Fishcamps in the late afternoon of day 9
Leave the Fishcamps in the morning day 10
Enter the Howlings in the late morning of day 10

Book 3's travel distances is ~60 miles to and from the objective.
Book 4's travel distance to the objective is ~225 miles.
Book 5 and 6 have no travel distance.

In your game, did the Iron Guard/Heralds somehow overthrow the rulers in Whitethrone? Following the book's setup, The Iron Guard were already crushed when Elvanna made her play for power, and the Heralds' presence is super small. The best the remnants of the two groups can hope for is a short-lived revolt to distract the White Guard so the PCs can get to the hut, before either getting annihilated or retreating back into the shadows. By herself, Cassioche (a level 18 witch in her own right) could end that revolt if necessary, to say nothing of all of the other Jadwiga Elvanna and the new Winter Guard in the city, assuming the other Jadwiga remain neutral.

The Iron Guard could inspire the previous generation Jadwigas to help overthrow the Elvannas for self-serving ends, but the Heralds definitely won't get any foothold in government. To have the story play out properly (such that Elvanna is still in some control of the situation instead of cowering in the Hut hoping the other Jadwiga don't find her backdoor), you would probably want the Ice Palace still in control of the Elvannas, and something of a siege is underway.
Who would be in control of the city? The Iron Guard are obviously Baba Yaga loyalists, but, as I mentioned earlier, they aren't really in a position to be in control. I don't think the other Jadwiga care about Baba Yaga very much, as long as they aren't in a position to be punished if she does come back. I could see a council of Jadwiga from each noble line getting created, and perhaps the PCs get back before power-jockeying causes such an arrangement to implode.

[Serum]

To continue my thoughts:

Eventually word would spread outside of Whitethrone, and a civil war would begin. I'm not sure the dividing lines would be as clear-cut as Elvanna vs everyone else. The giants, trolls, winter wolves and fey would have some loyalty to Baba Yaga, but will also benefit the most from eternal winter. The Jadwiga are the non-monstrous civilization best favoured to survive and thrive if they manage to kill Elvanna but not stop the ritual (aside from the Erutaki and Varki, but I imagine they won't be going on a conquering spree). The Jadwiga might fight along family lines, but each house will decide differently, and those decisions could be different in each province. The monsters most definitely will be split, depending on how forward thinking they are and how much loyalty they have Baba Yaga.

[RJChristensen]

In my campaign, the revolt was marked by highly trained & motivated yet poorly armed Iron Guard forces battling poorly trained and worse led Winter Guard troops with Heralds providing guerrilla tactics against the Winter Guard as well, along with my group plowing through town. Then the oppressed Ulfan civilians started fighting back. Plus, when their draconic "air support" was no longer available and the magic fey forest vanished along with the Dancing Hut, Winter Guard forces began deserting enmass, figuring the Heralds had "super magical powers"....plus the fear that Baba Yaga was going to come back angrier then usual.
As for Princess Cassioche, as she felt deserted by her mother Elvanna and possibly hoping Baba Yaga would grant her mercy when she eventually return, she declared a truce and general amnesty, which every side exhaustive accepted. No group has the strength to rule alone and thus ended up in a shaky alliance; the Jadwiga waiting for Baba Yaga and a new Queen, the Heralds & Ulfan hoping otherwise.
So when my group eventually returns with Baba Yaga and a certain young Russian woman, they will (hopefully) end up ruling Irrisen.