Yes, it's time for the next episode of the Adventures in Milmar !
Last time, the players dealt with Damaris Shadowblade, the assassin hired to terminate them. This time around, they start to become involved in some of the politics of the world of Argull.
Argull is actually a very political setting, with power struggles both within nations and between them, and a lot of complex intrigue (and sometimes outright violence) going on. Most of the conflict players get involved in is collateral damage from much larger issues going on in the background.
In this case, the players are getting dragged into conflict arising as a result of the disputed succession within the Kingdom of Jakta. You can read more about the events that started it in a post I wrote a while ago - The Great Fire of Jakta
Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay
Sabine Von Ulthar
After dealing with the assassin Damaris Shadowblade, the party are introduced by their sponsor, Demos Drathgold, to a Jaktan noblewoman, Sabine Von Ulthar.
Sabine appears to be a slender woman of middle years, with unsmiling patrician features, her face finely lined by too much grief. She is dressed in notably neutral colours, and her clothing is that of a working lower middle-class woman. The more trained eye would spot the steadiness of her gaze and surety of her movements. For a woman of her class, she is remarkably self-assured, and she appears to have far better muscle tone and control than one would expect. When she speaks, her accent betrays just the slightest hint of an edge that suggests she is used to being listened to and obeyed.
She introduces herself as Sabine (not giving her surname), and says that she works for Queen Shrekana. With a small, bitter laugh, she’ll say “I am her Sir Alberich”.
Sabine explains that events are moving apace back in Jakta. She confirms that King Gortig has sent his son Konrad to Milmar to generate support and ensure that the Milmarians block any fleet Enrieme might send to aid any potential rebellion. His successes have been very limited, and Sabine also confirms it was Konrad who sent the Mantis assassins after the party. (DM note - this last bit may or may not actually be true, but it gives Sabine the tools to persuade the party to work with her).
Sabine's Briefing
DM note - As well as being a "mover and shaker" in the shadowy espionage game, Sabine is also mechanically an ideal quest-giver to the players, able to send them off on all kinds of deniable mission where they have to rely on their wits to succeed without much external help.
Sabine says that she knows the party has a ship, and she would like to hire it, and them, to work in the cause of Queen Shrekana. The first mission will pay a minor magical weapon for one of them, plus reasonable profit on the trip.
The mission is to go to Jagger Swampfox (the Remvar barbarian chief they successfully came to a deal with in episode 5), and “sell” him a shipload of swords and armour. The goal is actually to get his tribe better equipped, not to make a profit – the instruction is to sell the arms & armour at half price, and let him know he has a benefactor based in Milmar but not OF Milmar who will support him if he agrees to provide support in turn when the time is right. The party are asked not to reveal Shrekana’s identity yet, but to ask what else he needs and see what can be done to tie him closer in a web of favours.
The arms & armour will consist of;
250 good steel longswords – book price 15gp each, sell for 7.5gp each = 1875gp
100 light crossbows – book price 25gp each, sell for 12.5gp each = 1250gp
20,000 crossbow bolts – book price 1gp / 20, sell for 0.5gp/20 = 500gp
100 chain shirts – book price 50gp each, sell for 25gp each = 2500gp
Meeting With Jagger Swampfox
When the party return to the stinky swamps of the Remvar Delta, their old friend Jagger Swampfox is only too pleased to see them. The more so as they bring large quantities of cheap weapons - longswords for 8 gold coins apiece, crossbows for 13 gold, and chain shirts for a mere 30 gold each.
Yes, the party fiddled everyone and took a bit of extra profit for themselves. From a DM perspective, I was impressed and entertained by their greed and cunning, and definitely kept this in my back pocket as a tool to make life... interesting... for them at some later stage.
Jagger is still happy to have the cheap weapons though, and asks if the party would be willing to help him with the next step in his plans. He's definitely got the civilisation bug; many a barbarian chieftain has decided that civilisation is a good thing after discovering the benefits of hot baths and itch-free clothing !
He wants to turn a strip of tribal land (admittedly rich in fish and flax) in the middle of a swamp in a river delta into a proper civilised domain. This means conquering some land that is more than a few inches above the high tide mark, and that's where the party can help.
Jagger Swampfox tells the party that the Eye clan are a powerful tribe who rule part of the Eylan Hills, a range of low hills two days to the west of the Swampfox clan's lands. Their stronghold is around a low hill, and at the top of the hill is a palisaded compound where their tribal totems, Eyevore and Eyevan, live.
These totems are described as huge one-eyed men capable of throwing boulders the size of a large hut, and wielding clubs the size of a tree. They are champions of the Eye clan in war. Jagger asks that you kill these two monsters, place their heads on great stakes and signal him so that he can strike while the Eye clan are stunned by the loss of their tribal symbols.
It's unclear whether the party were more influenced by the opportunity to really solidify the favour of Jagger Swampfox (and by extension, Sabine), or the opportunity for further loot. However, they jumped at the chance to carry out this adventure without even a moment's hesitation.
Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay
Next time around, I'll describe what happened when the party went to wreak havoc on the Eye Clan.
Previous Posts in this series;
Adventures in Milmar #1 - The Fighting Pits of Faden the Black
Adventures in Milmar #2 - The Sea Dart
Adventures in Milmar #3 - Fire in the Dockyard
Adventures in Milmar #4 - Mantis
Adventures in Milmar #5 - The Remvar Delta
Adventures in Milmar #6 - A Journey to Enrieme
Adventures in Milmar #7 - The Enrieme Setting
Adventures in Milmar #8 - Trade and Trouble in Enrieme
Adventures in Milmar #9 - Damaris and the Temple of Smintheus