Into Edmark (with some difficulty)
Kaylan suffered in her own small hell, her sorrow palpable, and Tina, still perplexed over Thamior's murders, said little. Gens did what he could for both of them, but they seemed just out of his reach. Yet all was not doom and gloom, as Anita and Tyvis's feelings, mixed and undefined as they were, grew.
~ Trouble on the Road ~
The remaining group continued their journey over the Howling Hills, three days and nights of eerie calling, lupine shadows, and the sensations of being watched and being followed, but the Archdruid's ritual kept camps safe and secure, and on the fourth day wide, gravel roads and increased numbers of ships and travelers marked the city very close.A colorful assortment walked the paths, which wound through many fishing and farming villages. Most were Nors of a particular Edmarkian style, wearing long coats, breeches, buckled shoes and three-pointed hats. A fair number of Umabi and mulatto also headed for port, dressed in much the same styles, which on them looked exotic when compared to the savage and well-dressed Otezuma. The men of the marshes looked like sharks in suits, awkwardly adjusting cravats with their filed nails, teeth sharpened, covered in piercings and tattoos.
Merchants and peasants wheeled carts and wagons laden with fresh fish and crop, while others toted bushels on their backs or balanced saddlebags on the backs of lone mules, horses and oxen. Tyvis blended easily into the dusty, sweaty, earthy-smelling suburban crowd, while Anita barely drew a second glance, but a velvet-gowned Tina, her elven attendant and most of all a wild, hide-adorned elven fugitive commanded stares, glares and a lot of gapes.
Inevitably such attention provoked imperial hatred, which came in the form of a zealous pilgrimage of Sons (and Daughters) of Nor, members of the wide-spread religious movement who believed wholly in the fundamental interpretation of the God-King's most important message: man's unification. They harbored fifty generations of outrage and hate for other races, dating back to the destruction of the Gloriandeline Empire, and proudly wore the red (pig's blood or red berry paste smeared upon their clothes and armor).
While the others cast down their looks and tried to appear unassuming, Anita gave a few of them the stink-eye in hopes they'd bugger off. Quite the opposite, a well-thrown rock bashed Anita's face and broke her nose. Tina, exasperated, commanded they stop in her broken Nors, and the crowd drifted away from the escalating conflict. Sons and Daughters of Nor were largely from poor families, peasantry who'd seen their unification win a civil war and put their advocate Endymion Norson on the throne. They resented old money heirs like 'Lady Hanna', and downright despised elves. The group tensed, even as a mean looking son and daughter approached.
Anita was tempted to kill the rock-thrower, but after he called her a whore she was set on it, drawing her pistol and aiming at his forehead. He stopped dead, his will sapped by a stronger will to survive, but his female counterpart stormed right up to the rogue's horse and wound up for a punch. Anita fired into the group at her feet, the shot echoing across the hills with so many shouts and cries. The road cleared out, nearby pedestrians running for the hills.
The daughter fell backward onto her ass, staring hatefully upward, mirroring the looks from sixteen or so other zealots further off. The trembling rock-thrower beckoned her away then, calling her Tontia. She heeded the call, but her look promised revenge. Anita's aim lingered on the woman, then she angrily holstered her pistol once more. After a snide comment by Tyvis, she snapped and rode on ahead.
With the red-garbed zealots left down the road, the vexed party eventually re-mingled with the traveling populace. Tyvis noticed, then, a young man in black leathers with a thick, black band around his head watching the group intently. However noticing Tyvis noticing him, he turned quickly back ahead. The Archdruid thought to follow, but the stranger vanished into the crowds.
An ebon hand offered the dour Anita a rolled up ball of root gum, then, promising it would take off the sting. Looking it over, she popped it in her mouth, and introductions were had. Oshay Nambi was a friendly sort who sympathized with strangers in a strange land. He himself had come out of the eastern forest city of Camboon to help advocate nationalized farming and usage of the root which now numbed Anita's broken nose and left her with a pleasurable throb. Tina was fearful he was a drow but, after another good laugh, he apologized for his rude manner introduced himself to the obviously noble lady.
Talk wandered to their purposes in Edmark, Anita more or less admitting she was there to keep the others out of trouble (and doing a shoddy job thus far). Oshay was on a similar mission, hoping to prevent his mother from getting into trouble with the powerful Wheat Consortium. She had overstepped her bounds and shared the root with the local physicians guild, hoping the root's success would convince the overseer. Instead it garnered her much disfavor and it was up to Oshay to confront the bureaucracy in an effort to redeem his mother and advocate the root.
He went on to explain that the empire's guilds and resources were managed by five conglomerates known as The Consortium, divided into Lumber, Stone, Iron, Gold and Wheat. Most related trades, lumberjacks under Lumber, miners under Iron and Gold, quarrymen under Stone, and so on were part of these mighty companies. The only exceptions were the highly-specialized trades, like locksmiths, physicians and jewelers, and the mundane local guilds like barber-surgeons and gravediggers.
Anita offered to 'remove' certain obstacles in his way, but the Umabi wanted no part of that sort of thing. He still believed in the power of diplomacy and reason. When Anita hinted at other applications of the root, or administering it under the Wheat Consortium's notice, Oshay also vehemently refused, knowing well what abuse of certain substances could do (hinting at a narcotics problem in Camboon). Anita apologized, having not meant it in quite that way, Artigo having its fair share of that sort of thing.
Tyvis noticed the young watcher a second time, hidden behind a merchant's wagon sneaking looks. This time the Archdruid decided to have a chat with the curious fellow, but on the way stumbled over his own two feet and startled a horse. The black-banded stranger bolted for the city, and Tyvis gave chase.
The two scrambled through the crowds, pushing and shoving their way over the last hill, the group following on to port...
Cresting this last hill brings you in sight of Edmark, City of Sails. Hundreds of white, wind-filled canvases reflect the morning sun, as many ships large and small make for a striking scene against the deep blue sparkle of the river.
They drift for Edmark, walled in beige stone with intermittent watchtowers shingled in pale woods. Set in a rocky brown isle in the center of the Edema, it's well-fortified and sprouts hundreds and hundreds of docks.
Three bridges lead in from the hills: The largest is most heavily manned, with a small keep built right on its middle. It looks as if many of the better-dressed, the scholars and the carriages are moving down it. The narrowest and furthest of the bridges sees many laden carts, pack animals and farmers. The third bridge is actually the widest and is preempted by a village of mortared river stone and light wood buildings one and two stories high. There's an open farmer's market and baskets of fresh catch, and the place look predominantly the residence of farmers and fishermen.
Gazing out beyond the bridges and the walls, you see a sprawling city on large hill, the largest most of you have ever seen (save Anita). Thousands upon thousands of people and animals move through hundreds of streets and alleys, between buildings some five, eight, even ten stories high, keeps and manors, shipyards and cathedrals, great domes, amphitheaters and turreted towers.
In the center of the city stands a beautiful castle of pale stone, peach and coral mostly, faded to silver and then white at the highest towers. Many windows glitter in the sun, and colorful flags whip from the pinnacles.
Higher still, at the extreme end of the city, looms an even more elaborate fortress of gray tiers and towers, with many imperial flags flapping. A great many ships are gathered in the waters below it, warships, a very impressive naval base it seems.
~ Trouble in Rivergate ~
Tyvis again lost the stranger as he rushed through Rivergate Village and over the wide, guarded bridge into the city. Holding, the Archdruid caught up with the others, who readjusted their eye-patches, fixed their costumes and assumed their covers. The humans did a well-enough job, but the elves in their nervousness drifted a little too close, sharing an unspoken affection that caught the notice of many disgusted townsfolk and one irate guard.
One of the sentries peeled off the wall barking questions about where the elves were from, why they weren't bound out of the household, and who was in charge. The other two guards followed, and the party was halted there on the street. Anita managed to angle her horse to prevent one of the lead guard from pummeling the two, and Tyvis quickly parted the old friends.
The Liscari explained they were recent acquisitions, and the male couldn't keep his hands off the female. They were going to fix him, but there's potential for breeding, which nearly made Kaylan choke and Gens glance down. The guards weren't convinced, given the extreme rarity elves were bred, and their commander Leoth demanded to know their business in the city.
Another guard, Kolorgar, walked right around the horse and shoved Gens hard for no other reason than the fun of it. Ignoring Anita's protests, he kept taunting the elf, even as Anita stammered for a house to affiliate themselves with. Leoth eventually lost his patience and asked Tina, who blanched, not having heard Kaylan's subtle whisper 'Martel'.
The prophet decided to risk speaking up on their behalf, reminding the girl of the ship deed in her pocket. Tyvis then claimed they were from the House of Wright, which softened the third watchman Banwar right up, but hardly phased the cruel Kolorgar and left Leoth more than a little suspicious. Anita tried again to play the part of master by threatening them with whip and backhand, provoking a hard look from Kaylan and an even worse glare from Gens. This was enough for Kolorgar to slug Gens in the gut.
Tina nervously fumbled with the deed after having seen her uncle bowled over, but when Leoth asked why she had a writ with Lord Rothchilde Bertrum's name on it, she stared blankly, having not understood the question. Oh if she'd only spent a little less time on that flute...
Kaylan whispered something softly and Tina smiled, "A gift." Leoth apologized and moved the party off the side to wait while he verified her story with her father's house. Tina again didn't understand what he said, and folded her hands quietly.
Hoping to distract the guards away from the little girl's confusion, Gens dared to stand back up and look Kolorgar in the eye. Kaylan, meantime, whispered a rather long response toward the girl. The sharp-eared watchman grabbed her by the wrapped bun and tore her backward and onto the cobblestone, provoking Gens to ball his fists. He took a second punch in the gut for his show of anger.
Anita snarled at the mistreatment of the Lady's property, and Tyvis angrily added that dozens of others moved in and out of the city without molestation. Yet they insisted on harassing a noble's company, to which Leoth replied in a calm, but firm, way that it was his job to question elves run amok, overseen by a Liscari and a farmboy with a nobleman's daughter.
Kaylan managed to whisper one last thing to Tina before Kolorgar shoved her hard to the ground, and Anita dismounted and bound the two elves. Kolorgar proceeded to drag them back to their feet and slam their heads hard into the side of a shop, grinding splinters into their foreheads. That time even Leoth ordered him to let up and sent him back to the bridge.
Tina shakily requested to see Percival Wright, and Banwar eagerly agreed without consent from his superior, obviously fond of the boy and eager to break the tension. Leoth, demands of compensation shouted in his ear, was nearly at his wit's end and waved the already departing Banwar off while he stayed with the group.
Many townsfolk watched as things progressed, but interest eventually passed during their twenty minute wait, as townsfolk fought to sell the last of their wilted crops and fly-ridden fish to a self-replenishing stream of travelers. Leoth asked them to excuse Kolorgar, who'd just gotten word of his brother's death at the hands of vampires on the borderlands. Seems the war had officially begun...
Soon Banwar returned beside a well-dressed boy with black hair and piercing blue eyes, confident as he rushed on ahead to meet his new sister. His eyes widen when he saw Kaylan.
In no time at all, Percy had Leoth apologizing and the group crossing the bridge into the guild district with ship deed in hand. Tina seemed to forget some of her worry with the presence of the young noble, handsome and kind as he was. There was no time to explain why they were here, but they needed someplace quiet to regroup. Percy offered Beggar's Street, the seedier side of town where the guards usually didn't go with any frequency and with plenty of rat holes to settle in.
They agreed, making small talk along the way, Kaylan asking about little Bremen Wright. Percy was happy to inform her that the boy was doing well, as were all the Darlings, whom his parents had adopted after the events in the Darklands. They'd tried to explain what happened, Thamior and Raggamoffyn and the angel Ezariel, but his father chalked it up to children's handling of a traumatic kidnapping. When Percy asked where Thamior was, as he and Bremen both would love to see him, Kaylan grew very quiet and conversation ended.
Tyvis again spotted the young watcher in black, trailing them through the streets, but when Anita moved to go after him, she tripped in her stirrup and scared him off again. It was enough to put everyone in foul moods, having suffered much to enter the enemy's second largest port...
~ Trouble on Beggar's Street ~
Leaving the guild district, the quality of the neighborhoods changed, each block more rundown than the next, strange and often unpleasant smells lifting, cheap perfumes, street-cooked meats, refuse, smoke. Buildings turned crookeder, supporting warped additions, leaning in over the narrowing roads and many alleys crisscrossed with laundry and catwalks. Derelicts and the ugly sort of sailor and ruffian frequented the streets, and it was just a matter of time for the unusual part of elves, two noble children, and a farmer to attract trouble. Worse that they were down Anita who, after an off comment from Gens lit the woman's temper, rode down the cobblestones like a firecracker.
The party gave her space, keeping their eyes open for an inn, when a tall, bulging brute with a bald head and an ugly, red beard stepped out of the shadows with some bruised and downtrodden associates. They called themselves the Dead Dogs and demanded a toll for passing through their alley. One recognized Percy as a fine ransom, and the elves as nearly priceless, and a fight was on. Tyvis did promise of painful deaths, however, with some detail, but all it inspired was laughter. Gens' insulting the alpha's manhood didn't help matters, either.
Tyvis summoned his fey wolf, grinning at how fitting it their gang name was. One of the beasts sunk its fangs into the fleshy calf of the 'alpha' and tore him to the ground. He cried out for help, and three new combatants entered the scene, sneering men in bowler hats with surgeons' aprons and barber's blades.
Gens dipped Kaylan as part of some bardic dance, then unleashed a triumphant shout, blasting a score of the dogs back against the wall of an old shanty with an echoing thud and a lot of groans. Percy marveled at the scene, his young heart captivated by the storybook adventure, but Tina has seen too much real blood and pain, clenching her eyes shut.
While a couple of the lowly 'bleeders' stabbed at Gens and Curck, and crossbowmen appeared on the roofs overlooking the alley, another thug came up behind Tina and pressed a knife to her throat. He swore he'd kill her unless they surrendered, when suddenly appeared a curious, blue-haired pedestrian dressed far to revealingly to be a native of Edmark.
Narra turned her hard, crystal gaze on the dog threatening Tina's life and demanded he release the her immediately, provoking a string of curses out the alpha's mouth over some planetary alignment attracting weirdos. The boys already seemed a bit panicked at magic being flung about, but the savvy gang leader turned the scenario into a matter national pride, convincing them to fend off this apparent invasion (and split the loot 80-20). The air rippled with force, shattering some old crates behind Tina and her captor.
Clambering to his feet, griping a nasty, spiked cudgel, the alpha swung for Curck, beginning a drawn out duel of nail versus tooth. His bowler-wearing 'gutters' took an immediate fancy to Gens, one entering a duel with the half-elf.
"We love your hair, elfie. We's gunna chop it off your corpse and sell it to the wig-maker," one of the gutters hissed, licking his blistered lips and attacking Gens.
Kaylan, on seeing her beloved little girl in danger, summoned forth the same retributive fire as in the Dormuds, almost liquid gold which swirled around her frame in the likeness of a phoenix. With an angry glare, the bleeder holding her daughter hostage boiled in his own leathers, bubbling over pink as he dropped to the cobbles. The girl screamed and turned away, begging Kaylan's same fire-granting goddess for forgiveness. Percy resolved to guard her kneeling form with naught but balled fists, not afraid in the least.
Tyvis was peppered with bolts from above, and more bleeders poured from the alleys. They turned their blades and clubs on Kaylan and Narra, but the latter managed to... slow things, somehow avoid what should have been an obvious strike. This drew both the prophet and the Archdruid's attention.
Gens begged Tyvis's aid to reach his niece, swinging wildly to keep the gutters at bay. Narra offered her protection, but the good uncle wasn't quite convinced of her motives despite her beauty or apparent skill.
Curck leaped forward, tearing into more of the dogs while Tyvis blasted two of the gutters away with an arctic gale.
"Well blow me down, Freddy," one of them chuckled, coughinh up blood a moment after. The other grinned back weakly, his teeth pink with blood and spit.
Narra dodged a bolt and turned her mental powers upon the shooter, disheartening him entirely. So profound was the mental jarring, he reconsidered the course of his life and decided to listen to his mother. He dropped his weapon, turned around and left the battle, determined to make a new start as a baker. She was beginning to win Gens over.
Narra again tries spiriting Tina away from harm, but the girl was uncertain and Gens prefered her close. Tina did weakly compliment her pretty blue hair, though, tugging Narra's heartstrings and leaving her with a quiet outrage over a child seeing all this.
Gens appealed to the fiery Kaylan to stop incinerating thugs, but the prophet refused to let Tina die again. The alpha pounded Curck with his club, nearly cracking open the wolf's skull, while the gutters flashed their razors and zigzagged across the battle, slicing as they went. Kaylan suddenly gasped when one of the sharpened edges slashed open her throat! The other gutter followed suit, slicing open Curck's throat and sending him reeling back into the Wild.
The alpha barked how disappointing it was he couldn't skin the thing, even as Kaylan clamped her leaking throat and summoned a cascade of searing light. The big man's exposed skin smoked and peeled, but when she demanded he surrender she was answered with a wad of phlegm.
More bolts rained upon the party, and Kaylan wobbled against a battering of bleeder clubs. Gens was knocked in the face with the butt of a crossbow, even as the bleeder turned it back around to fire. Yet a different sort of fire was in store for him, as Kaylan's merciless consecration reduced him to ash.
Tyvis then summoned forth Krath: a strange-looking wolf composed half of skin and fur, half of vines and plants. It ripped into the fatalistic Harold Gutter, starting a new wolf-dog duel whose odds looked rather stacked. Gens invoked another bardic lyric, empowering Narra and impressing the amateur singer all in one, even as Freddy Gutter slashed across the half-elf's back.
Rooftop bleeders planted yet more bolts into the Archdruid and Krath, spurring Narra to fire a psionic blast which crumpled two more bleeders. Then she took flight! The blue-haired girl landed on a rooftop and sent another blast against a bleeder, which flung him backward off the roof. Splat.
Tyvis gaped at the flying woman, then glanced at Kaylan. "You didn't attract another angel, did you?"
Percy warded Tina, wide-and-wild-eyed at the chaos around him, when down the road echoed a crash of hooves and a single cry YAHOOO! Anita rode back onto the scene, suspecting the worst with sounds of battle:
Pistol in hand, "I leave you guys alone for five minutes..."
Anita shot the alpha in the gut, then the chest! The second shot forced him back with a gurgling cry, "Gaaah! Fuck, boys, I'm not long to live. Kill her! Kill 'em all!"
Tina concentrated on praying as the tears streamed, a small girl amidst all this violence. Kaylan knew then she would send her away when they were out of danger. This was no life for a nine-year-old. And not even Tina's devotion to her second mother could shield her from the horror of the Nors-North war.
"Yeah, that's right! You're messin' with Wild Annie now!"
She flashed a shit-eating grin, inspiring a rage few could see brought into reality, yet the alpha was a large man, and a hateful one, who charged the Artiguan rogue and pummeled her right off her mount. With her head in his massive hands, he repeatedly slammed her face into the cobble. Her nose broke a second time, teeth flew, and her cheeks and chin were made into pulp.
"Wild fuckin' Annie, eh? Meet hard fuckin' stone." The alpha guffawed, even as his bullet wounds seeped from the effort.
Something in the Archdruid snapped then and he roared with a fury not of this earth, "LET HER GO YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"
The sound startled all the combatants, taking his companions in particular aback.
The startling reprieve lasted but seconds, as Freddy Gutter slashed Gens more and was slashed in turn. Harold Gutter tried his luck on Tyvis, but Krath barreled him aside. The prophet swooped to the Archdruid and healed his immediate wounds, then finally sealing her own fatal slice.
Tina was snatched up a second time by a bleeder, praying furiously, but thanks to Gens' enchantment she managed to teleport safely away. Unaware of the nature of the bard's magic, the little Kalindian was convinced the transportation a miracle, that the goddess had answered her:
Tina's look turned suddenly from sorrow to joy, a transformation of tremble lips to widened grin, watery eyes to sparkling orbs filled with wonder. Kalinda had answered! Someone was listening! She danced out of pure joy, laughing, pulling Percy in the inopportune celebration. Together they spun, her red hair glistening in the sun, which seemed a little brighter then. The young nobleman could only laugh as he turned with her.
Freddy Gutter watched the scene with his own smile, vicious and yellow. "I'm gunna wear that little poppet's head like a hat. I mean saw it jagged off her tiny neck and use her pretty hair as the tie."
Gens quickly turned with a look of shock and disgust, squeezing the hilt of his blade and stabbing with renewed fury.
"... Tina, close your eyes," her uncle warned, knowing full-well what he'd do to the miserable wretch.
"No keep them open, dear. They're so big and bright. They'll be the jewels on my little crown," he laughed.
Percy growled. "You, you, you fucker!"
"I appreciate the fervor, lad! "Gens nodded, deflecting a low-cut and feeling the same.
Rage was infectious, and Tyvis transformed into a plains-borne wind and manifested atop the alpha as a hulking, black dire wolf dribbling hot saliva over the bastard's winced face.
"I said to get your fucking hands off of her. Now you'll lose those hands." He lunged forward, ripping the thug's hands off at the wrists, gobbling them down as his wrists became bloody fountains.
The big man thrashed and rolled about like a dying animal, losing all semblance of a man in his primal howls. Then just as suddenly he slowed to a few spasms, cried out something unintelligible, and died.
All in the party, especially nearby Anita, were shaken by the display. Thankfully Tina was so busy celebrating her teleportation, she missed it, lest the poor girl might have lost her mind. Krath continued ripping apart bleeders, and some dogs began retreating.
A spiteful Freddy, watching the battle turn, wasn't one of them, continuing his sick promises.
"Oh now I'm going to have to make her guts to garters, too, elfie. Her ears into little keepsakes give to my woman. Her tiny fingers I may even fry up an' eat..."
Narra fired a psionic blast at Freddy for such utterances, and the gutter wept as his brain squirmed in its skull, his nose and ears and eyes bleeding out. Yet he refused to fall, and soon found a weak grin.
"I'm gunna kill her..." He sung over and over like a nursery rhyme.
The worried telepath threw manners to the wind, then, swooping down and scooping Tina into her arms. She hugged tightly, "You will not harm this child!"
Anita spared a worried and somehow thoughtful look at her red-splattered savior, then leaped to her feet and began picking off fleeing dogs. Terrance Gutter, the third and least harmed of the barber-surgeons, had the foresight to flee then, shot in the arm for his efforts, but escaping into a large crowd where extended combat is all but impossible (without a lot of questions and even more guards).
Freddy and Gens continued their duel, slash for slash, blood for blood, until ultimately the hateful gutter threw a bleeder in front of him and fled around a corner. Krath and Tyvis tore through the breaking ranks, and very soon the party had decimated the dead dogs, the alleys a mix of corpses and the unconscious.
Gens, Tyvis and Krath chased Freddy down the alleys, the Archdruid eventually ending him.
With a prisoner named Fullner, keys to the gang's hideout, the lot of them drenched in blood, ash and sweat, they absconded deeper into Beggar's Street seeking sanctuary in the gang's old hideout.
On the way, a calmed Kaylan commanded Percy and Tina to go back to his manor where it was safe. Tina put up no resistance. The prophet escorted them both to the edge of the slum, but shouts of alarm as the many dead dogs were discovered forced her away.
The party collected back at 78 Beggar's Street, a new ally in the mysterious girl Narra, to interrogate the gang member and plot their next move.
Experience: 1490 xp each (37, 518 total)
Trouble on the Road, 600
Trouble at Rivergate, 2800
Trouble on Beggar's Street, 4050
Magic: Gutter's Razor
Gutter's Razor
Beneath the layer of dried blood collected on this barber's tool, the blade gleams wickedly. How many throats has it drank from?
Level: 15
Price: 25,000 gp
Weapon: Light Blade (dagger)
Enhancement: +3 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: Gain 3d8 temporary hit points
Property: Whenever an attack with this weapon reduces a target to 0 hit points or fewer, you gain concealment until the end of your next turn.
Coin: 1497 gp, 20 sp, 20 cp of imperial mint, 1 jacinth (5000 gp)
Loot: a Dead Dog Bleeder named Fullner (prisoner), four keys to 78 Beggar's Street
New PCs
Narra, The (Flying) Good Samaritan
New NPCs
Tontia: A Daughter of Nor humiliated by Anita on the road to Edmark. No doubt you'll be seeing her again, as her hateful glare promised revenge. Whereabouts unknown.
The Watcher (unnamed): A young Nors man in dark leathers with a black band around his head who tailed the group since the road. Whenever someone attempted to catch up with him, he bolted and escaped.
Oshay Nambi: A friendly Umabi traveler who offered a particular root gum to Anita for the pain of her broken nose. It numbed things right good. After a little small talk, he explained he'd come to the city to help his mother advocate the root for the benefit of soldiers' needing to go under the knife, and patients across the empire.
Watchman Leoth (Edmark): The guard along the Peddler's Bridge who takes his position very seriously, attempting neutrality as he investigates suspicious activity in Rivergate.
Watchman Kolorgar (Edmark): The guard along the Peddler's Bridge who went out of his way to be cruel and manhandle the elves. His brother was recently killed by vampires in the war.
Watchman Banwar (Edmark): The guard along the Peddler's Bridge who, after hearing the party knew Percy Wright, softened considerably and sought the boy out.
Dead Dog Alpha (dead): A tall, bald, ugly Edmarkian and leader of the Dead Dogs gang in Edmark. He had a mouth on him, and managed some brutal hits (especially on Curck and Anita). Tyvis in his black dire wolf form ripped both his hands off, bleeding him out after having already been shot twice by the Liscari.
The Gutter Boys (2/3 dead): Three bowler-hat-wearing, ugly, grinning killers of the barber-surgeon's guild, who moonlight as low-level enforcers for the Dead Dogs of Edmark. Quick and skilled with their blades, all but one was put down.
Abnen: The Dead Dog Bleeder who realized the error of his ways after Narra's mental jarring. He left the battle to rethink his life and perhaps get into baking.
Fullner: The fleeing Dead Dog Bleeder who surrendered as Tyvis and Krath charged him. He's willing to give up information for his life.
Returning NPCs
Percival Wright: Eldest son of Lord Roray Wright of Edmark, heir of a ship-building empire and the illustrious House of Wright. He was kidnapped over a year ago, along with his brother Bremen, by the Dark One. They were saved by the former group during their exploits in Darling, and Ezariel whisked them back home. Percy learned to respect elves thanks to Kaylan and Thamior's brave actions, and was all too happy to rescue the party from an impending visit to Stonegut. He's a strong, handsome young lad with a good head on his shoulders, who idolizes his father and is consumed with notions of adventure. Not without chivalry, he goes out of his way to try and protect women.
New Hooks
Advocating the Root: Oshay's mother, a member of the Wheat Consortium, is having difficulties clearing a Soverosi root for wide-scale farming, despite all the potential medicinal benefits for troops and the sick. Oshay has come from Camboon to see if he can reason with the Consortium bureaucracy, but you know better.
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