Stage Dressing (Back to the River Kingdoms)

Destiny was left in excellent position.

The army of charua-ka was shattered by the defeat of their Anghazhan champion, and retreated into the jungle from whence they came. For several days, not a single sighting of the bestial ape-men was reported by the watchers on the tower gate. When one was spotted by a group of outriders, it kept its distance, merely watching as the patrol went about its task. When the men pulled the massive head of the Anghazhan from under the tarp that concealed it upon the wagon, the charua-ka hooted in fear and scampered back into the trees. After mounting the head on a pile of stones at the top of the trail leading down to the valley, the patrol returned to the palisade, and from that point on the archeological site was left in peace.

Raimondo was sent back to Bloodcove, and a second shipment of goods arrived within two ten days, accompanied by tonics and potions from Rulkep. With the rope and tools the shipment brought, repair on the palisade walls and the destroyed tower was able to be completed. A note from the Pathfinder Society promised that representatives would make the journey shortly to verify the find, and Destiny’s place in the Chronicles was assured. It also warned of increased interest from the Aspis Consortium, stating very plainly that the group of “adventurers” that had passed through Bloodcove recently was being actively hunted. There was a strong suggestion that the group makes itself scarce or it would face a foe beyond their scope that was interested in exacting a price from their skins. Reimbursement for the rescue they enacted was also provided.

Captain Colgardie seemed to have found that note amusing, and in the true spirit of the mercenary ways of the Aspis Consortium, offered you a way off of Azlant Ridge. His price: he wanted to accompany his benefactors back to the lands they spoke so much about, as he felt the “earning potential” in that area was significantly better than that offered by the jungles of the Mwangi. Besides, he had a dagger that needed to be returned to its owner some day, and if the owner insisted on returning to these “Stolen Lands,” it seemed only right that Colgardie follow.

He led you northwest, on an arduous journey through the Terwa Uplands and to the small coastal town of Port Peril, a smuggler’s cove with strong ties to the Shackles Pirates. There, he had no trouble securing passage on a ship bound for the Inner Sea. It seemed Alizandru Kovack, the captain of the Jenivere, owed Colgardie a favor, and passage for seven people and their horses exonerated him of his debt. After a stop in Ilizmagorti, the Jenivere made call on the port of Corentyn at the far southwest edge of Cheliax. There, the sight of the Arch of Aroden, the broken span that once linked the continents of Avistan and Garund, was as awe inspiring as any sight could be. From Corentyn, you made your way east to the famed shipyard of Cassomir in Taldor, at the mouth of the Sellen River, the largest watershed on Avistan.

Beyond Taldor’s borders, where you followed the Sellen River north, the rough and tumble ways of the River Kingdoms held sway. Here, so long as you held to the River Freedoms, you were left to yourself. There were six freedoms in all, listed here from least to most grave:

Say What You Will, I Live Free. Riverton, on the shore of the Kallas Lake, embodies this law. Ruled by a Theocracy devoted to Hanspur, the river god, these people cared not for the oppression of the “empires” of the south. In the River Kingdoms, they were able to speak their minds, regardless of how demented their minds might be. For the right price, however, the inhabitants of Riverton made excellent pilots for the myriad twists and turns of the Sellen Riverways, pilots who knew how to keep their questions to themselves.

Oathbreakers Die. Hymbria, on the banks of the East Sellen River, is inhabited by elves. Nowhere did it become plainer that keeping one’s oath in the River Kingdoms was a matter of life and death, not just one of honor.

Walk Any Road, Float Any River. Ordinarily, the words of this law are interpreted to mean merely that no toll may be enforced to travel the rivers and roads of the kingdoms, but that doesn’t mean that safety is implicit, even from the lord of the land. Liberthane, on the edge of the Embeth Forest, was an obvious anomaly among the River Kingdoms. Its ruler, Achille Parsall, truly believes in this law, protecting the people of his small kingdom with a fervor bordering on zealotry.

Courts are for Kings. In Nystra, buried within the forest to the east of the Sellen River, it is said that the rulers of the land were wont to play cruel games with their citizens. Within the River Kingdoms, that was their prerogative, as courts are for kings, not the common man. But Nystra was a perfect example of what happens when even a king goes too far. The strong rule in the River Kingdoms, and now Nystra stands silent tribute to the violence that can be the result of pushing the wrong person too far.

Slavery is an Abomination. Some say that nearly a third of River Kingdoms inhabitants are escaped slaves or the descendants of escaped slaves. Even more people narrowly avoided slavery to flee to the Kingdoms. The Swordlords of Mivon are one such group. Two hundred years ago they fled the onslaught of Choral the Conqueror, making their way south from Rostland past the Narlmarches to escape what they considered slavery to a madman and his dragon minions. For two hundred years they have remained entrenched in their new home, practicing the Aldori Dueling form and, some say, perfecting it beyond even that of the Swordlords of Restov. Don’t insult anyone in Mivon, lest you find yourself called to duel in the Sevier.

From Mivon, instead of making your way northeast toward Restov, you are forced to circle west, up through the swamps of the Hooktongue Slough, an unpleasant journey in winter months. In days past, you could have just traveled up the Little Sellen River to the Shrike, crossed through Candlemere and the Tuskwater, and from there traveled overland until reaching the South Rostland Road at Oleg’s, where you could then make your way to Restov with no worries. However, You Have What You Hold in the River Kingdoms, and bandits – and worse – still hold sway in the Kamelands, regardless of your accomplishments.

Which makes what you did during midsummer of 4708 that much more important…

You remember approaching the bandit fort from the north. It was situated on a hillock above the Tuskwater, looking out over a commanding view of that lake at the mouth of the Shrike River. A narrow path wound up the hillside approaching the fort, a full 300 feet from the woods’ edge to the gate in the wooden palisade. Fifteen feet high, consisting of logs and sharpened stakes, the wall looks to be a recent addition to the hilltop. Within, you can see the crumbling remains of stone buildings. One roof seems to have collapsed entirely, and the remnants of a stairway rise up out of it, leading nowhere. Wooden towers have been constructed on the shell of the old ruins, three that you can see, all roofed over against the elements. In the tower next to the gate, you can see a man watching the road. He isn’t paying much attention, it seems, as the dead that surround the fort are a far better deterrent than the arrows of this lone sentry.

But you know the pass phrase: By the bloody bones of Saint Gilmorg. The dead are supposed to let you by if you utter that phrase. And you put it to the test…