Development in Tuskdale – Darius’ new capital – had been coming along nicely. And he enjoyed taking regular morning strolls through the marketplace to see new vendors and citizens.
He was particularly pleased with the “Beer Mug Inn and Tavern”, which had grown from a ramshackle dive into a well supported business thanks to its hard working and devoted owner, Elina. It had occupied the spot since before the days of the Stag Lord, but had truly begun to flourish with the stability he was now providing.
Things had been running fairly smoothly since they had put the business with the Trolls and the Spider Invasion behind them. Darius had even had the opportunity to appoint Storyteller as a minister of Culture and the Arts – hoping to found a library and museum in the capital. They still kept patrols busy mopping up bandits and breaking up remanants of the Stag Lord’s loose cartel. But the future was looking bright.
They did receive an unexpected visit from Duke Stefano of Pitax. The man was thoroughly insulting. To an over-the-top and obvious degree. Darius suspected the Duke was actually feeling out how easily he could be baited into proving Pitax with cause to invade and annex his new Barony. But he would not be so easily manipulated. He observed the required minimum courtesies, ignored Stefano’s outlandish comments, and let the man wander away muttering about his weakness.
Soon after, a more concerning issue came to light. A woman from a nearby village named Jenna Tannerson came to see him in desperation. It seemed her boy, Tig, had vanished two days ago, and search parties had found no trace of him. And she believed an old witch in the Narlmarches had taken him! Darius had met the witch of the Narlmarches in his last excursion there. She had once lived in the village that spawned the Scythe Tree. But she had seemed to him to be simply a sad old woman who wished to be left alone. Not a likely candidate for kidnapping children. But he knew the rumours could get ugly quickly if he did not nip them in the bud. And he agreed to do all he could to find the missing boy.
The old woman was indignant and incensed when he asked her about the child. Quivering with rage at the notion that simply because she was an old woman who did not care for company she was also a child stealing monster. She even insisted he use divination magic to prove her innocent, making him feel even worse about the matter.
When Darius returned to Jenna she at first seemed shocked, and then grew pale. When last she had seen Tig, she had yelled at him about accidentally knocking over a tub of dough. She had lost her temper and told him to “go jump in a lake”, and now was terrified he had done just that!
Darius wasted no time organizing a search of the banks of Lake Candlemere. Before long they came upon an unexpected sight – a lone injured lizardman warrior surrounded by other freshly killed lizardmen. Darius approached cautiously, but the lizardman shakily welcomed him. It seems his tribe – the Longtails – had a long enmity with another tribe – the Thickskins. The center of their disagreement was “warmbloods” – like him. Longtails believed in keeping a wary distance from “warmbloods” – apart from occasional trade. Thickskins believed in direct war upon “warmbloods” to reclaim the earth. Darius healed him as best he could, and the lizardman gave his name as Rashor. Darius asked him about the missing boy, and he hesitated. Then would say only that Darius should come visit his village, and gave directions.
On the way to the village they came upon another lone lizardman – a shaman named Kagar. Kagar warned them to be careful in the village. Some months ago a “bright spirit” had come to the village claiming to be the ancient hero “Strishchak”. The Chief believed the spirit and began taking its advice. But the spirit asked “strange things” of the tribe, sowing fear and doubt. Kagar believed it was a false spirit, misleading the tribe and feeding on fear. But he had been forced to flee as the spirit turned the tribe against him. Darius promised to be wary.
In the village Darius asked to speak with the Chief, named Vesket. The Chief was happy to talk of the history of his tribe, but grew agitated when Darius asked about the missing boy. He said the “Great Ancestor” had taken the boy, and began to turn hostile. But using what he had learned from the shaman Darius was able to raise doubt in the Chief’s mind, and so the Chief directed him to speak to the “Great Ancestor” himself.
They wandered around the village a bit first, to investigate. In one hut they came upon a small, greviously wounded lizardman surrounded by crushed reptilian eggs. Angelique did what she could to heal him, and the lizardman, Virish, told them that he had been tasked with nurturing the tribe’s eggs. But the Guardian had warned them that starvation was imminent and ordered them to eat the eggs (as was custom when food would be too scarce to raise younglings). Virish had objected, as food had been plenty, and attempted to protect the eggs. He had been beaten for the attempt. This was not sounding like the work of a benevolent spirit…
When they entered the abode of the Guardian, they discovered the boy Trig sitting alone. Darius attempted to speak with him, but the boy did not at all sound like a boy… He had a strange, resonant voice and an odd look in his eyes. Darius suspected possession, and attempted to address the boy directly. But whatever being was speaking through him laughed at the attempt. It demanded that Darius return with “the old rattler in the swamp” – meaning the shaman – so that it could move to a more powerful host. Otherwise it would kill the child. Darius verbally sparred with the entity – trying to determine more about who or what it was. It referred to itself as “Count Shimmerglow”, and mocked him for his lack of knowledge. He did not learn what it was, but through cleverly manipulating the boasting Count while subtly working his own magic he did determine that rather than actually “possessing” the boy the “Count” was likely telepathically controlling the boy while hidden nearby. The “Count” called out to the King and his guards to ensure his “safety”, and so for now Darius “agreed” to fetch the shaman.
Returning to Kagan in the swamp, they hatched a plan. Kagan would pretend to be cowed and resigned, and then use a magic power of his own tradition to reveal the entity when it attempted to control him. Thus proving to the Chief and his guards that it was not what it claimed to be. When the entity began its ritual Kagan threw his powder and it was revealed… as a Fey Will-o-Wisp!
Chief Vesket angrily attacked the Count, but the Wisp blasted him with a torrent of lightning – killing him outright as Kagan ran with the boy to safety.
Count Shimmerglow proved powerful and vengeful – killing many lizardmen with lightning as they fought. But in the end a very angry Darius brought it down – severing its link to the Feywild.
Once they calmed the boy they were able to return him safely to his mother. Darius offered the decimated lizardmen sanctuary in the capital, but Kagan declined. He believed in the capital they would become destitute beggars among distrustful warmbloods. They would find their own way to rebuild and recover, drawing on their own sacrifice and traditions. Darius could respect the sentiment. He only wished he could help more.
Back in the capital more unpleasant news awaited. A letter had arrived from a Fredero Sinnet – paladin of the Order of the Eternal Rose. Sir Sinnet was claiming rights to Valerie’s service -saying she still owed allegiance to the church of Shelyn. He asked that they meet at Oleg’s trading post to discuss terms. Darius discussed it with Valerie, and she told him Fredero had been one of her mentors during her paladin training. A mentor with whom she had never gotten along well, and who had taken her leaving the church as particularly offensive. She believed that would have to confront the man directly to put the matter to rest.
When they met Fredero at Oleg’s he attempted to be both polite to Darius and insulting to Valerie, but Darius would have none of it. And the discussion grew more and more heated as Fredero attempted to browbeat Valerie into returning to “honor her pledge” while she stridently refused to do so – citing her commitment to Darius. Unfortunately, in the process she grew angry enough that she proclaimed that Shelyn “should have chosen her trinkets more carefully” – implying that the goddess had made an error in judgment in accepting her in the first place. Fredero took this as a grave insult, and challenged her to a duel on the spot. Darius was not at all in favor of this approach, but Valerie appeared to relish the opportunity – so he allowed it.
It was a long and difficult duel, as both were skilled combatants and they knew each other’s tendencies well from training. But Valerie had come a long way since her days in the church – devoting most of it to combat. In the end, she won.
An enraged Fredero stalked off – but not before intentionally slicing Valerie’s cheek! Darius wanted to have the man arrested then and there, but Valerie stayed his hand. “A paladin of Shelyn believes the greatest insult is to blemish one’s beauty,” she said. “He believes I no longer deserve the “gift” of Shelyn for forsaking her church. But to me, its just another scar. And maybe that will put an end to this.” He didn’t like it, but he agreed with the logic. And it truly did not seem to matter to her.
Soon after returning to Tuskdale he received a letter from Maegar Varn – the Baron he had met at his inauguration who had been given rule over the similar area now known as Varnhold. Maegar invited him to visit, wanting to show him Varnhold and discuss trade opportunities and potential for cooperation. Upon his arrival Darius asked him bluntly about his purpose and loyalties. Maegar thought a moment, and then declared that he trusted men like Darius – in the thick of it with him with similar ambitions – than he did any of the political winds back Brevoy or Pitax. Darius was inclined to agree, and they made plans to construct and patrol a trade route between them.
Unfortunately, once back in Tuskdale Jubilost reported that a detailed review of accounts revealed that someone had embezzled funds! Someone with relatively high-level access… As they were having the discussion, Linzi walked in, turned very pale, and hurried back out. Darius followed her to discuss the matter in private. It turned out Linzi had wanted to purchase a printing press to start printing pamphlets and books for the Barony. Not an unreasonable concept. But she had been so excited about the idea she had taken the money without telling anyone or conferring with Darius. And then to make matters worse the delivery had been hijacked by bandits! Darius arranged to recover the press, and allowed Linzi to continue with the plan, but made clear that the Barony could not operate in this fashion. Excited or not, she still had clear her ideas with the others before jumping in.
Darius was just beginning to think that things were settling back down, when Jhod burst in with two guards towing a familiar looking old man in tattered clothing. Darius remembered him as the odd hermit Remus he had met when first entering the Stolen Lands, but Remus appeared to have no memory of the prior encounter. He had apparently been wandering the capital spreading fear ranting and raving about a Goddess from another world who would tear down the works of man and restore the beauty of nature. A Goddess who demanded sacrifices to avert her wrath. It did not take Darius long to point out the variety of inconsistencies in Remus’ tales of an all powerful, benevolent Goddess from another world bringing ruin to mankind for… building a town on the ruins of an existing fort. Remus eventually grew confused and asked to be given somewhere to sleep and escorted back home. The immediate issue seemed to be averted, but Darius suspected it was merely the first sign of whatever was coming next…
Author’s Notes:
I had forgotten how many interesting mini-tales are interwoven into the interludes between major chapters in Kingmaker. I obviously can’t cover every sidequest, but I like to to cover the companion tales and a least the major beats of what happens in between.
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