Stories of Lore 12
As a brief mention, the allied forces to the south are on the far side of the orcs, so reconvening might be harder then it seems. On the flip side Oda and Katara have just returned to the home area so they kind of already have reconvened. Though all this aside, our Eilsath friends have gone mysteriously missing from Sarkisa and we’re not sure where they went.
Essi and the manifesters are heading up towards Tethalyn at the moment as well.
Road construction has begun…and completed because that was too many pathways for the DM to deal with for 1 and 2 hex increments. What fourth wall? Also with the new towns close to completion, it might be time to come up with some names for them.
On other news, Mikael and the fabulous five have left Lenahone and are on their way towards uh…here with the gatestone in tow. Apparently they found passage with the Oda through other means. As far as they’ve reported they’ve found some lead to something they’re very excited about. I’d consider it ‘neat’ at best.
The mercenaries have managed to link up with our people and head out after the monster bounty, I suppose the point of mercenaries is to avoid posting losses so who cares. Monster is dead and the 10k mana has been sent to us since we had ten guys there to claim it. I’ll leave you to figure out how much to send to the witches.
Also the Oda tell me we’ll be receiving an important guest soon who is interested in our history. I leave you to make the call on this. Ansa is a bitch but knows our history better then anyone, actually she would have been queen if she had been more likeable but you won that one instead. She might be useful for talking to this undead queen that is on her way, or she might get us all killed. So we could tell her a guest is coming and we need her, or find something for her to do far far away from Jamsä. Up to you my wise king. Yes I am intentionally absolving myself of all responsibility for this decision.
Greetings keeper! It is a glorious day for the Oda people. We’re just a cycle away from Haven’s construction being complete. Serizawa made contact with the city apparently known as… Kokettinen. I think I said that correctly. They are a coastal city that gets by fishing and keeping largely to themselves. They knew about the existence of other people but just never had desire to brave the wilds to make contact with them. This might have been due to the last people they made contact with being not the most conductive to invoking one’s social curiosity. They mentioned that to the south there is a large fortress called Alosne, their actual capital. Alosne’s closest contact to the outside world is Lieksä, and they are very familiar with Faelyn. Kokettinen is apparently part of a kingdom here in the north, what I couldn’t help but notice is that they have a very similar cultural aesthetic to ourselves. Apparently their foundation involved traveling up here and finding the mana rich world to their liking, as well as its isolation. They aren’t natives like the growling angry people we keep running into. They seem to be in a bit of a war with the native fur wearing folk. Apparently there is a lot going on up here in the north politically.
The navy ships can really only carry their own crew, they are warships designed with streamlined efficiency in mind. Though most of our sailors are well trained in melee combat. I present to you our dock worker’s newest design! The transport ship, a large barge made just to carry people who aren’t doing anything helpful to the ship’s actual operations. His word choice not mine.
We’ve hit a bit of a peculiar incident when it comes to settling the former home of the Isolationists.
This is Salehe Kamari, the lord of Ahedama to the northeast of the village in question. He is one of the badland warlords and apparently a rival of the one the Nalkas met known as Faelyn. From what we can figure, he is well liked by his peers for his regal demeanor and amicable politics. Apparently, this man is the reason the isolationists were isolationists. His grandfather came to power from a position of leading a band of marauders. Over time they settled down and made a home for themselves in what is now Ahedama. In the modern day, Salehe maintains a highly mobile military force that patrol his territory from other bandits. While no one has anything particularly bad to say about him, most of the people who could have done so are now dead or enslaved to the Katara so we may perhaps only have half the picture.
He also had intents to take over the village to use as an outpost. Though upon meeting us he became a bit more curious with our existence pushing so far east. We’ve been offered a chance to discuss the matter with him, he has invited us to send an ambassador to Ahedama.
Kaze and Hamano have arrived at Melun and described the place in two different ways. Hamano says the city is a quiet and unnerving place. Kaze said the place is freaky as hell. They’ve had opportunity to meet with the queen of the city.
The undead Queen Eliana Eve is a witch like those of Katara. While she is incredibly talented with arcane magic as well, she considers herself more a witch then anything else. She once tried to save her city’s people through a massive ritual that turned everyone into an undead as to survive the Dying Night. The years since then have perhaps eroded her sanity just a little. They are reclusive in nature but it is evident that they are one of the remnant empires, but unlike the Katara, Nalkas, and Aywin – their entire population survived the dying night. Well survived being subjective. Though they face an issue similar to the Katara, they have issues increasing their population since the dead do not reproduce. This has played a key role in their reclusive nature as every person they have is too valuable to lose. Now the reason she is particularly important, is she is coming to visit us herself…in person. I advise making sure we are prepared to receive such a guest.
I will commend you for impeccable time management skills. The road completed just in time to assure Areti could reach Sarkisa in time along with the road’s construction guards. The stars align less often then such efficient timing can be displayed, even less so during times of great import to take action. Also related to logistics, Ankathi says she won’t need to hire any soldiers for this, or at least that was what she said earlier. It’ll become apparent what may have changed in a moment. Though she says the mobilization of the Coven should be fine.
Unfortunately, despite such efficient administration on your part, everything else has become a chaotic mess. The first thing I will note is Vanessa suddenly left Marilens and is headed straight for Sarkisa without any orders to do so, and she has not reported in as to why. She left most of her army there to guard Marilens and watch over the new prisoners but left the newly anointed Governor Cybele Souli to command that. However, she did keep about fifty units of soldiers with her, and I can’t help but notice they were the platoons noted for being the most loyal to her. She’ll be arriving soon.
Coinciding with this, the Sanctum wasn’t exactly sealed by a lock on the door -emphasis on the past tense-. But by ten of the blackguards standing at the door fully armed at all times. They’ve notably begun to situate a watch around the walls as well, no doubt due to a familiarity of how the coven’s magic can work from the outside. While they have done nothing outright hostile, Layla has been able to just walk inside past the guards with no problem, they will not let Layla see Nina.
Christina managed to enter the Sanctum without any trouble as well to discuss things with them. They said that they acknowledge the danger’s of the infection but they have no reason to believe Nina is in such a state. However, they have agreed to refrain from any breeding activities without much difficulty since they weren’t planning on doing that anyways. The blackguards stated they were on heightened security because they know Areti brought Bagrak back as a prisoner. They do not want the orcs to gain any knowledge about the cost of Nina’s display of power, it being best they do not know she can’t just do that whenever she wants to. They said matters of the infection and perhaps further discussion of the breeding issues should wait until Nina is recovered enough to tend to official matters on their behalf as they are not exactly administrators for the Sanctum.
This is where the problem starts, while Areti visited alongside Christina for her safety, she never left the sanctum itself. After Christina was escorted out Areti stayed behind to talk to them some more. Remember what I said about past tense? It was after this that the doors of the sanctum were closed and sealed, and Areti has not been seen since. Atop of this, one of the warriors normally stationed in Sarkisa as a guardswoman of some repute has been talking to the Eilsath mercenaries the Nalkas sent down here. The night after it was reported she talked to the drow, all of the drow mysteriously disappeared. One hundred fully trained soldiers, gifted in the art of stealth, just vanished in the night and we cannot find them.
To make matters worse, the plan to lure the orcs south towards the Sanctuary has apparently failed. Their entire army just suddenly started moving north, uncharacteristic of their battle plan as usually they garrison newly captured cities for a more extended duration. I’ve been told it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume they know where Bagrak, or more importantly her artifact, went. Given the value of those artifacts, I wouldn’t be surprised if that just made the top of their priority list. The artifact is on the way to the Nalkas but Bagrak is still in Sarkisa, I’m not sure which they’re actually tracking.
Perhaps directly related to the orcs moving, I’m not sure if this counts as a complication but Amare has suddenly showed back up in our kingdom. Mostly to inform us of the orc’s movements. She also mentions the elven army is moving towards Lennecas at the moment and will travel to Tethalyn from there by river in hopes of beating the orcs to…wherever they might happen to be going. The reason I felt I should mention Amare though, is despite not telling her anything about the situation she has taken to lurking around Sarkisa for reasons unknown. Though, she is technically a member of the coven now so perhaps she might prove herself useful.
Also apparently the Oda have a witch queen like yourself visiting our alliance soon, just in case you need more things to worry about.