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This chapter offers detailed information about the nation of Kendaria.
 
Kendaria is a land of many environments, from grassy plains and scrubby badlands, to vast and ancient forests about which countless fairy stories are told, to towering haze-clad mountains, to rolling verdant hills that seem to rise and fall as one travels like the waves of a green ocean. Kendaria is a bucolic swath of natural beauty and mostly temperate climes which has found its bounty the envy of many of its neighbors over the centuries. Nestled between mountains to the west and the roaring tides of the sea to the east, Kendaria abides in grace and plenty.
 
A monarchic queendom with very old roots, Kendaria is generally viewed as a peaceful nation. An old forest sprawls across most of the nation, with towns and hamlets nestled in and around the forest’s hills and dales. Kendaria occupies a temperate climate with warm, rainy summers and mild winters. The mountain range to Kendaria’s west will usually get snow caps, and while snow will occasionally fall in the Old Forest, it almost never sticks for more than a day.
 
This tranquil appearance hides fresh wounds and old superstitions, however. Queen [[Astaria Gillian III]], whose family has ruled for several hundred years, only recently raised the nation out of a destructive civil war between three of her vassals. With a just and cunning reputation, Queen Astaria maintains popular support among most of her citizens, although there are whispers that she was only able to maintain her hold over Kendaria thanks to the help of a dark eldritch beast. Such rumors are always vague in nature, pointing to supposed odd changes in her behavior, and apparently accelerated aging; things the Queen’s supporters find to be dubious at best and insulting at worst.
 
The Old Forest and the southern steppes hold some of the same undertones of menace. Although the forest and plains are both picturesque and monster sightings are uncommon, superstition abounds in both regions, and numerous tales of inexplicable activity fuel these superstitions.
 
=== Kendarian Matters ===
When the heroes arrive in Kendaria, or if any wish to roll an INT check to see what sorts of things they might know about Kendaria, you may use the following table to give them tidbits of lore, or as a guideline for the sorts of things they may know about the country based on their roll. Characters native to Kendaria should know at least the first three pieces of Lore, and at least the first two Rumors below.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!DC
!Information
|-
|5
|Kendaria is a large, heavily forested land with a capital city called Dalewright located north and east of Bridgemoor. Dalewright is a port city.
|-
|12
|The Old Forest takes up the majority of Kendaria’s land, and is sparsely populated with towns and settlements. The majority of the nation’s people reside in Dalewright, though there are several smaller hamlets & villages throughout.
|-
|17
|Kendaria is ruled by Queen Astaria Gillian III, who is widely regarded as a just and fine ruler. A little over a decade ago she was able to swiftly resolve a war between several of her vassals which was making large portions of the country unsafe to [[travel]], and devastating the Kendarian economy. Though her resolution to this conflict was seen as somewhat brutal at the time, the decisive end to the fighting and economic recovery Kendaria has seen since have softened people’s opinions of her solution to the whole affair.
|-
|23
|Kendaria is a land steeped in worship of the fae, and is replete with superstitions and fairy stories at every level of socioeconomic status. This is no great secret, but the degree to which the fae interact with mortal people and the commonness of travel between the Everwilds and the lands of Kendaria (especially the Old Forest) are not often understood or appreciated by outsiders. It’s speculated by some planar scholars that there are more crossings into the Everwilds in Kendaria than there are extraplanar schisms, portals, or broken veils leading to all the other planes, anywhere else in the world, combined.
|}
The Rumors in the below table can be used as things the group overhears Kendarians saying about current life in Kendaria, such as in a crowded tavern or marketplace. If the group wishes to ask travelers coming from Kendaria about what awaits them further down the Queen’s Road, you can also use this table. This information should come from making an AWR or CHA check, such as AWR/Eavesdropping or CHA/Gossiping.
{| class="wikitable"
!DC
!Information
|-
|12
|Greenvalley in the southwest of Kendaria, along the Queen’s Road, is a fantastic place to stock up on goods and [[equipment]]. It’s sometimes called the “[[Gateway]] to Kendaria”, and owing to the high quantity of trade it processes between Kendaria and Bridgemoor, it’s home to a large population of wealthy and middle-class merchants and craftspeople.  
|-
|17
|Queen Astaria Gillian and the dukes, duchesses, and barons that rule over the Old Forest have recently had a strange and vexing issue in the form of “Queen” [[Amelia Grace]]. Amelia is a young [[halfling]] child who has crowned herself the “Queen of the Old Forest” and, most perplexingly, has actually managed to become just that. Amelia Grace is surprisingly popular throughout the Old Forest, despite having been taken in by the flattery and tall tales of a group of mercenaries called the Merry Foresters— a group who, thanks to Amelia’s support, have spread throughout the Old Forest and behave as little more than common bandits and highwaymen.
|-
|23
|People have been whispering for years now that there’s something wrong with Queen Astaria Gillian III. Ever since the end of the civil war a decade ago, some people claim she’s taken on strange behaviors and has seemed to age thirty years in just twelve. Nastier rumors say it has something to do with an eldritch being she compacted with to end the war, while more “charitable” folk say she’s just aging poorly and may not be up to the task of remaining queen for very much longer.
|}
 
== Life in Kendaria ==
 
=== Academics ===
Kendaria is primarily an agrarian society, so formal education is not common. There will usually be one or two scholarly folk in a given settlement, who happily teach children reading, history, and arithmetic when they aren’t helping their parents in the fields or shops, but literacy is not particularly high in smaller towns. In the handful of proper cities throughout Kendaria, formalized schooling is more common.
 
In Dalewright, the nation’s capital city, a number of both private and public institutions of learning can be found. Most notable is the University of Augustan, a school founded centuries ago by a cadre of forward-thinking priests of the Archfae Augustan, which has slowly flourished into one of the oldest institutes of inquiry and higher learning in the region. It is home to some of the finest collections of old manuscripts, historical inquiries, and treatises from ancient times, but has somewhat of a reputation for being slow to adopt new subjects and curricula. More modern sciences and studies like alchemy and magical theory are barely supported by the university, if at all, depending on whether or not the handful of faculty that teach those subjects happen to be on-campus for any given semester.
 
In Silverbranch, an old circle of druids called the Circle of Heartwood was once the ruling body of the settlement that would one day become the city. Over time, especially after the area was enfolded into the Kendarian monarchy, the Circle of Heartwood lost more and more of its overt power while resisting being wiped out entirely. The people of Silverbranch were too proud of their druidic heritage and believed the Circle stood as part of that heritage. In time, the Circle of Heartwood found its purpose going forward into the future, to serve as both an organization of [[primal]] veneration and an institute of learning from which non-druids could learn about nature, local history, and the faith of the Archfae conclaves.
 
Children in Greenvalley often undergo what’s called “Counter’s Culturing”, usually received at the local School of Foundationals. Counter’s Culturing is a free tutoring in the basics of mathematics, economics, and “sales etiquette” sponsored by a guild called the Coin & Measures Trade Consortium that represents the interests of several local [[merchant]] families. The goal of this program is to both build some [[goodwill]] between the guild and the locals, and to give the guild a decent pool of potential recruits from whom to hire. This tradition supposedly dates back forty or fifty years at this point, dating back to a period of existential crisis for the consortium, when their leadership and few remaining masters were [[dying]] out one after another without suitable replacements.
{| class="wikitable"
!Institution
!Area
!Description
|-
|Circle of Heartwood
|A day's ride northwest of Silverbranch
|A druidic [[order]] turned place of learning. Mainly provides a religious education and knowledge of nature.
|-
|School of Foundationals
|Greenvalley
|Teaches “Counter’s Culturing”, a program designed to give young people the foundations in mathematics and economics needed to become guild merchants.
|-
|University of Augustan
|Dalewright
|A venerable institute of higher learning with phenomenal historical programs and a vast library boasting a great deal of ancient literature, but rather lacking in modern sciences like alchemy & magical theory.
|}
 
=== Aristocratic and Political ===
Kendaria is a monarchic feudal nation implementing maternal primogeniture. As each eldest daughter of the Gillian house comes of age, her mother prepares her to become the next queen. Landed gentry serve as dukes or duchesses over multiple towns, while each settlement is managed by a baron or baroness. Dukes and duchesses report to the Queen’s court and serve as intermediaries between the monarch and the towns that they oversee.
 
The machinations and schemes of the Queen’s court tend to be rather tame by the standards of such things elsewhere, especially with the ignominious fates of the Queen’s warring vassals from the civil war twelve years ago still somewhat fresh in the minds of much of the nobility. While there is still bickering and plotting, as there might be in any court full of ambitious lords & ladies, Kendarian [[noble]] scheming takes on a decidedly quieter and slower aspect than would the machinations of their peers elsewhere.
 
Baron Callister Fendive - the Baron of County Wellhower which encompasses a wide swath of the eastern Old Forest - has been trying to expand (and ideally merge) his territory into that owned by Baroness Phelia Gilgane, who has been gaining considerable tax income from her Duke Maxwoll Cadovan’s selling off of the region now called Treegrave in lucrative logging contracts. To see this ambition through, Fendive has begun to spin a series of nasty rumors throughout the nation’s courts and whisper networks to torment Baroness Gilgane’s eldest daughter Alora Gilgane and socially isolate her, while trying to set up his son Misha Fendive to court her for eventual marriage. In particular the rumors are that Alora is a changeling, a sneaky fae creature that replaced the real Alora in childhood for an unknown, presumably nefarious purpose. Despite the relative ham-fistedness of his approach, Fendive’s schemes seem to be succeeding, though his own son has been reluctant to carry them through.
 
In many parts of the Old Forest, the nobility have found themselves in a difficult situation, caught between their actual queen, Astaria Gillian III, and the self-styled “Queen of the Old Forest”, Amelia Grace. The popularity of Amelia amongst the smallfolk, and the surprising power of the mercenary company, the Merry Foresters, who have thrown in their lot with hers, has made opposing this new queen a dicey proposition for the local nobility. Many of them have therefore found themselves in the unenviable position of paying taxes and tithes to both the true crown of Kendaria and the Merry Foresters when their brigandry demands the “Queen of the Old Forest’s tribute.”
 
=== Mercantile and Trade ===
Many of Kendaria’s internal roads between its towns - especially those networking the Old Forest - have fallen into a state of disrepair. This has proven a great challenge for many of the smaller hamlets that rely on inter-settlement trade to shore up their economies. Kendaria maintains land trade with its closest neighbors, Constel to the north and the city-state of Bridgemoor to the west. In Bridgemoor, Kendarian merchants also do business with Nalatheshi traders regularly. By sea, Kendaria keeps trade arrangements with Forsten and Derk up the northern coast and will occasionally trade with Nenva, although Queen Astaria believes that spies from Nenva were responsible for starting the civil war that so damaged her Country.
 
What popular support and enthusiasm there are for public works like better roads out in the Old Forest and in the badlands of the Southern Steppes are tempered by the country’s own relatively insular and centralized domains of power and wealth. Most of the trading happens in Greenvalley to the west or Dalewright to the east, with the majority of major trade in either major hub occurring as a fact of their position along the Queen’s Road or on the coast, respectively. The people of the Old Forest and the Southern Steppes may wish they could get more outside business flowing through, but their being out of the way in the first place just feeds the vicious cycle of their being ignored by the Dalewright bureaucracy as “economically inviable regions”.
 
Local Kendarians and outside traders alike sometimes call the Queen’s Road “the Only Road”, as a bit of wry humor about how difficult it is to reach Kendarian markets not on that one road.
 
==== '''Legal and Less-Than-Legal Trade''' ====
It is common knowledge amongst Kendarians, albeit only whispered by most, that if you’re looking for legal, above-board trade and goods, you go to (or source from) Greenvalley. The city’s location as the furthest west Kendarian settlement on the Queen’s Road, and the closest to Bridgemoor, means it gets ample imports from that City-State and, consequently, all of its trading partners. These are, broadly speaking, mostly regulated, taxed, and tariffed goods from all over which have been stamped, certified, and traded according to the international agreements between parties.
 
Meanwhile, fairly or otherwise, the city of Silverbranch has taken on the reputation of being the port of call for all things of dubious provenance and unsanctioned trade, an under-the-table paradise for everything, up to and including pirated goods from Nenva. While there are plenty of well-meaning local authorities who’ve tried to clean up this reputation over the years, few have succeeded for very long, in part because other officers of the local Baron or Duchy tend to undermine these efforts. It is widely believed (though rarely true) that anything shady you might be looking for can be found in Silverbranch.
 
=== Militant ===
In the wake of the civil war, Queen Astaria has begun to restructure Kendaria’s military: no longer do the gentry have the right to levy soldiers themselves, but instead they must entreat the monarchy to lend out some of its standing army in times of crisis. Queen Astaria’s top general, Ser Grendor, rigorously trains lieutenants to lead soldiers on both land and sea. While competent, the Kendarian national army is still quite small.
 
==== '''Pirates and Queens''' ====
Queen Astaria has been fighting against pirates from Nevna for almost the entire length of her rule. While Kendaria had a navy before Astaria took the throne, it was never so well-equipped, disciplined, or effective. Serious capital has been invested in developing newer and better ships, better-trained sailors and marines, and more powerful ballistae and [[arcane]] artillerists. The Kendarian navy is now, if not the envy of the world then at least a maritime power worthy of respect and a healthy dose of fear.
 
In Nevna Astaria’s reputation has developed throughout her rule, from that of an unworthy opponent, to a merciless butcher and villain, to an evil [[occult]] sorceress holding her nation in dark thrall. These opinions are particularly held amongst pirates, but also spread popularly through rumor and propaganda.
 
==== '''Mercenary Free Companies''' ====
One consequence of the Queen’s restructuring to a central standing national army, instead of the older model of nobles raising bannermen and peasant levies, is that many mercenary free companies came to see Kendaria as an untapped gold mine. They began to rush into the region and entered bidding war after bidding war (sometimes devolving into actual violence) for contracts with the local barons and dukes. With the Queen dissolving the nobility’s access to personal armies, some paranoid nobles took to keeping these mercenary companies on retainer, on-call but dispersed within their territories in small groups numbering no greater than nine to a group. This outwardly strange organizing behavior was kept to remain in adherence to the letter of the Queen’s new laws while oftentimes violating them in spirit.
 
As this practice became widespread, the Queen and her court bureaucrats worked on various ways to word their laws in order to further restrict the nobility, but every change they made left loopholes elsewhere and threatened to undermine the entire point of the effort. In the end, Queen Astaria decided to classify mercenary contracts from companies not chartered in Kendaria as a form of “import”, which levied additional tariffs against them. The mercenary companies, not eager to lose out on their income, passed these new fees onto their would-be clients, which did wonders for reducing the overall number of mercenaries being held in retainer by Kendarian nobles almost overnight.
 
=== Religious ===
As Kendarians tend to be superstitious, many are also very religious. Kendarian society relies heavily on the Old Forest for timber, fruits, and game, so Kendarian religious practices typically involve veneration of the Pashak Conclave of the Archfae and occasionally include prayers to the Celestial Council. On days or weeks of festivity, food offerings will often be burned in an effort to please the Pashak Conclave. As the Pashak represent vegetative life, the planting season in early spring is especially sacred to Kendarians.
 
Despite being a land broadly devoted to the Pashak Conclave, other fae conclaves have had and continue to have presences throughout Kendaria. Some ancient histories of the nation claim this land, replete as it is with crossings into the Everwild, was once a sort of “neutral territory” where the fae would come to discuss disputes between individuals, courts, or even conclaves. Whether or not this is actually true is difficult to ascertain, in part because different fae have both confirmed and denied this idea multiple times.
 
Kendaria’s people are hardy, superstitious, welcoming, and old-fashioned to the thinking of many who visit from elsewhere. Even their more metropolitan folk, those who live in the capital city of Dalewright or one of the other small cities, are said to have odd habits and eccentricities often attributed to their nation’s worship of the Archfae. “Those who live in fairy lands,” it is said, “lead fairy lives”.
 
==== '''The Twining Wreath''' ====
The Twining Wreath is a religious movement of mortal priests and druids devoted to the Archfae of the Pashak Conclave, in particular Amazonia, Augustan, Elpad, Junia, Relustin, Wylla, and Zenir. These seven fae lieges represent the most commonly worshiped divinities in Kendaria. It is taught that, by weaving their virtues and teachings together like branches twining into a wreath, one can live well and care best for others.
 
To call the Wreath a church or a religion in its own right is both inaccurate and not wholly unfair. Many of the priests who ascribe to the Wreath treat it and speak of it like it is a formal body, but there is no central authority or overt power structure. It is often contended that one cannot “be a member” of the Twining Wreath, but rather that the Twining Wreath is a path one can tread if one so chooses.
 
That said, it doesn’t stop people from thinking of the Twining Wreath and those who follow it as a single body of faith. And the Wreath certainly has its celebrities and evangelists, people of higher station whose adherence to its tenets and enthusiasm for its teachings have spread its influence throughout Kendaria.
 
==== '''Other Gods and Cults''' ====
Despite the primacy of the fae, many other faiths exist and are practiced and tolerated within Kendaria. The Celestial Council is the next most prominent after the Archfae, with Kendarians showing a particular fondness for both Niphtaral, whose teachings seem well reminiscent of many fae, and Judesaril, whose worship was most recently introduced through foreign sailors & soldiers hired to help develop the Kendarian navy. Tovare is also widely worshiped, being the chief deity of one of the more popular faiths in Ancerra.
 
Less tolerated are the various cults of Fiend Lords, Exiles, and eldritch entities that occasionally spring up throughout Kendaria. Of particular importance to the region are cults of Thaniakoth, which have sprung up repeatedly over the centuries of Kendaria’s existence. Most often, Thaniakoth’s worshipers disguise their cult behind names like the Languishing Lover - some have even pretended to be worshipers of Lucien as a guise for their activities.
 
==== '''Death and Burial''' ====
Different regions hold different sacred rites of burial, with the people of the Old Forest most often burying their dead in clearings, shrouded, but otherwise naked and without coffin or other container to cut them off from the natural world they are rejoining. A common element of belief amongst Kendarian fae-worship is that one’s body is only borrowed, made from materials which must be returned to Ancerra after the time of your life has come to an end.
 
Some regions practice sky burial, as well, though the practice is not widespread. The act of putting a body up high, on a stilted platform or atop a natural rise like a bare hill, for scavenger creatures to reclaim and make use of it. The body being returned to the natural world as the soul departs for the hereafter.
 
People in Dalewright more & more frequently practice cremation, as both a practical matter of space, and a way to keep a version of the older folk beliefs about death and burial within nature. The ashes of their dead are mixed with various alchemical solutions which turn them into vital fertilizer, which is then used to nourish plants both within the city and in special “grave-orchards” outside the city. This practice is widely promoted by the city’s priesthoods and land-owners alike, as the alchemical gravedust fertilizer has been found to be truly excellent for the quick maturation of trees— in particular apple trees.
 
=== Social ===
Whispered conspiracies aside, Kendarians are usually a hospitable lot. As most settlements in the nation are on the smaller side, each person in a community usually knows most of their neighbors. When someone’s roof leaks after a summer thunderstorm, the community will often take time out of their day to pitch in and fix up the unlucky family’s rooftop. Kendarians view strangers and travelers with a mix of suspicion and rapt fascination.
 
Kendarian life is mostly lived in pastoral landscapes in close contact with nature. The [[weather]] is usually temperate and clement, though heavy summer storms blowing in from the sea, and the occasional winter [[blizzard]] are far from uncommon. Kendarian people usually band together in times of hardship, doing their best to provide for one another when necessary, in the knowledge that others reciprocate when one’s own time of need comes.
 
Kendaria is mainly home to Humans, Elves, and Halflings, but [[Kleppin]], [[Satyr]], and [[Trollkin]] are all quite common as well. The metaphysical nearness of the land to the Everwilds and its long history with the fae means that creatures of fae heritage can be found anywhere and everywhere. Monsters are uncommon, outside of the Old Forest and parts of the Dreamhaze Mountains. People coming into contact with monstrous creatures usually do so in the darker, more haunted and inhospitable portions of the Old Forest like Wychwood, the Levidian Mists, or Bramblehollow.
 
==== '''Fun and Games''' ====
Being a people largely devoted to the Archfae, Kendarians are no strangers to whimsy. Games, song, and revelry are common throughout the nation, as they would be anywhere. Of particular popularity are card games making use of a deck of cards originally from Nevna called the Deck of Thirty-Seven, which has five suits of cards (Coins, Scrolls, Swords, Waves, and Whales) with seven cards in each suit (numbered 1-5, plus a [[Mage]] and a Captain face cards) and two Folly cards.
 
The Deck of Thirty-Seven was introduced to Kendaria through the Nevnan pirates with whom the nation has been at war for the past several decades. Due to its origin, some particularly highborn Kendarians see the cards and the games played with them as a sort of societal ill creeping into Kendaria. Scapegoated as a catalyst for moral [[decay]], the cards have been banned in some places— particularly places frequented by courtiers and members of high society in Dalewright.
 
Kendaria, at the state level, observes four high holy days each year during the solstices and equinoxes, with festivals being held to celebrate each. Each of these days is surrounded on either side by an extra day of revelry— one to welcome the bid farewell to the old season, one to celebrate the change itself, and one to welcome the newly come season. These festivals are named simply, after the solstice or equinox in question: Springtide, Summertide, Autumtide, Wintertide.
 
=== Underworld ===
Organized crime exists within the capital city of Dalewright and a couple of the other major cities, but these are isolated gangs that stake their claim over a few alleyways and marketplaces. The smaller communities have low crime rates and harsh punishments for thieves and miscreants.
 
In Dalewright, the biggest “[[criminal]] organization” is actually the acquisitions network of catspaws employed by a small handful of faculty at the University of Augustan. This group, led by an individual only known as the Professor, seeks to acquire proscribed texts and forbidden grimoires from across the world, and does so with surprisingly ruthless tactics. They have, on more than one occasion, lured a foreign scholar in [[possession]] of a particularly rare text to Dalewright, only for that scholar to find themselves robbed or even mysteriously disappeared and their collections unexpectedly bequeathed to the University of Augustan in a previously unknown will.
 
Outside of Dalewright, the city regarded as having the biggest “crime problem” would be Silverbranch, though the criminality at play there tends to be the kind carried out by wealthy & powerful people. Issues with gangs and the like are uncommon there, but organized criminal enterprises engaging in illicit trade and smuggling are common. A particular focus of these activities is smuggling in illicit goods such as opium and other alchemical drugs from Nevna, or fencing stolen goods from throughout Kendaria.
 
== Kendarian Side Quests ==
 
=== A Bit of a Bind ===
Queen Astaria Gilian III has need of some negotiators to solve an issue with one of her vassals. The Duchess Samanthe Gilard, whose territory encompasses a stretch of the southern Old Forest and some prairie land beside it called County Chimmond, had been withholding taxes and making it quite clear that she is doing so not because she does not have the money or wishes to keep it to herself, but as a form of protest over the Queen not doing anything to resolve the “Grace Crisis” in the Old Forest. That was enough of an annoyance in its own right, until the Duchess went and got herself captured by Merry Foresters.
 
The Duchess’s people have been harangued by Merry Foresters for weeks now, with the small town of Yewfield being the focus of their aggression. Despite being on the southern tip of the Old Forest, the Merry Foresters have become so emboldened of late as to have effectively taken over Yewfield, holding it in a state of martial law. Incensed by this hubris, and not inclined to pay tribute to the “Queen” of the Old Forest Amelia Grace, Duchess Gilard traveled to Yewfield in an attempt to frighten the mercenaries away with a show of noble authority. It did not go well.
 
Now the Duchess is being held prisoner in Yewfield’s smallish town hall by Doldram Brikk an Earth [[Elemental]] and captain of the Merry Foresters. His particular brigade is called Brikk’s Bricks. The Bricks have been treating the town as their own personal fiefdom, far enough away from Amelia Grace’s center of power to go largely unnoticed by her “court” and their ostensible leader, Tusken Sparrow.
 
Doldram Brikk is a bit dull-witted but exceptionally strong, and rose to his current position in the Foresters mostly through ruthlessness, and not so much cunning. He doesn’t really have much of a plan, other than to terrorize the countryside and use Yewfield’s town hall as his own personal manor (and the town’s people as punching bags) until he gets bored or the town runs out of mead and valuables for him to steal.
 
==== '''Resolving the Quest''' ====
This behavior by Doldram Brikk is brazen even by the standards of the Foresters, and would likely be regarded as - at the very least - a bit too openly aggressive by Tusken Sparrow. It could be seen as “bad optics”, possibly turning the people of the Old Forest against the Foresters in a much more active way if not handled correctly.
 
Yewfield’s location near the border of the Old Forest also puts it uncomfortably close to the reach of Kendaria’s military, but Queen Astaria is still wary of making too big of a move against the mercenaries while they still hold the favor of the so-called Queen of the Old Forest. In order to get her Duchess back and hopefully liberate Yewfield, Queen Astaria is willing to pay the heroes to negotiate with Brikk, or possibly even with Tusken Sparrow in order to rein in his mercenaries.
 
Currently, it’s assumed that Sparrow either doesn’t know his men have taken over an entire town, or is hoping the problem solves itself. If used cleverly, this could even form a wedge to help pry Amelia Grace apart from Tusken Sparrow by showing her that the supposed adventurous heroes she’s so fond of are actually brigands and crooks.
 
As a reward for returning the Duchess safely to her home manor, the Queen is prepared to pay the group 300 sc and they will gain +1 Goodwill with Dalewright. If they’re able to drive out Brikk’s Bricks, the bounty increases to 400 sc and the Goodwill bonus increases to +2. If instead they’re able to somehow parlay this situation into a way to sow distrust between Amelia and Tusken, Queen Astaria may be much more open-handed.
 
=== Foulweather Friends ===
A major bridge across the Amadan River which serves as the main traffic bridge connecting the north-eastern community of Pinion to the rest of Kendaria has been destroyed by an unseasonably vicious storm that blew in from the sea. The town’s main claim to fame and business is in the lightly magical tree sap they harvest from a small copse of Wychmarked trees (p. XX) that they’ve kept healthy and cultivated for generations.
 
The sap from the most recent harvest is just days from going bad and losing the magical properties which make it valuable in the first place, and carrying the last shipment down to Dalewright at the next river crossing several miles down the way in the wrong direction meant less of it got to market and the cost of doing business was quite a bit higher. If the sap is to be harvested and brought to market in a timely, affordable manner, the bridge needs to be repaired. Further, goods heading into Pinion have also been disrupted and made more expensive, so even if the wychsap business wasn’t suffering, the people of the town would need the bridge fixed either way.
 
This quest could be given to the group by either an Alchemist’s Guild in Dalewright or by someone representing the people of Pinion at large.
 
==== '''Resolving the Quest''' ====
The act of fixing the bridge is one of logistical issues and negotiating prowess. It’s a pretty big project that will require lumber to be sourced and craftspeople to be hired. There are plenty of people in need of some extra coin in Pinion itself, and those folks stand to benefit from the bridge being repaired anyway, so hiring workers from the town isn’t a bad idea.
 
For lumber, Pinion is located just south-east of Treegrave, where a number of lumber camps are currently operating. This quest can serve as a breadcrumb trail to get the heroes involved in the things happening in Treegrave, as they go there to find affordable, nearby wood to help fix the bridge.
 
Solving this problem could get them some money from a consortium of alchemists in Dalewright, and possibly a handful of free or steeply discounted potions. It will also earn the heroes +5 Goodwill with the town of Pinion, and can be used as entrée into things going on in Treegrave.
 
=== The Court of Hungry Eyes ===
Rumors have persisted for years now that Queen Astaria Gilian III engaged in a dark pact with some eldritch entity to aid her in swiftly defeating the warring vassals in the brief civil war of twelve years hence. It first circulated amongst courtiers who noticed odd changes in her behavior and a sudden outburst from the Queen at the victory feast following the conclusion of the civil war, and has spread and morphed over the years as different people have spread the rumor for their own purposes.
 
A small coterie of courtiers, headed by a bureaucrat named Kelmund Athora, have gathered to find the truth of the rumors - as discreetly as possible - once and for all. Most of them are not the Queen’s political enemies. Far from it, in fact. Their primary purpose for gathering is to pool resources and information in order to track down where these rumors started, determine their veracity (if any), and then find a way to quash them completely. Kelmund and his co-conspirators are moving as quietly as they are because, privately, they fear that it’s not impossible the rumors are true. And if they are, they don’t want to be found out before they can gather the evidence.
 
They seek to surreptitiously hire outsiders (such as the heroes) with some amount of social capital in Kendaria who can look into the rumors, starting at what they believe to be the source: a now retired scullery maid and cook named Aeva Callonas (Halfling, female, 70 years old). Callonas worked in the palace for thirty years helping to prepare, deliver, and clean up after meals and banquets, and is sometimes pointed to as the first person to report something odd or frightening happening with the Queen.
 
What Aeva saw, and has desperately tried to forget ever since, was the Queen in the stretched, distorted nightmare form she takes on when being controlled by the eldritch spirit of hunger that possesses her when she takes her meals, tearing into and messily devouring her dinner. The Queen was far less careful in those early days of her new affliction, and didn’t realize the door to her chamber was unlocked. Aeva, coming in to bring the Queen some more wine and take any unwanted dishes back to the kitchens, stumbled upon a horrifying scene she was never meant to see, and only by the fact of the Queen’s distraction in the moment did she escape being ripped to shreds and consumed herself.
 
At the same time as this investigation is going on, a cult of the Ghoul Stars, a constellation of eldritch significance related to hunger and famine, has been attracted to Dalewright by the occult energies of the Queen’s dark passenger. Every time she feeds, giving in to the abominable creature and allowing it to briefly possess her, the creature’s eldritch power pulses strongly for those attuned to that particular “flavor” of dark magic.
 
This cult is called the Court of Hungry Eyes, and are led by an elven man named Tenric Whitevine. They often masquerade as a charitable organization in large cities, seeking to feed the destitute, and use these services as a cover to kidnap and ritually devour people in a rite they call the Feast of the Stars. The Court of Hungry Eyes has come to Dalewright, and is in the process of tracking down the powerful source of eldritch hunger they feel pulsing through the ether every day when the Queen takes her meals. While they search, they’ve begun feeding the poor and preparing to perform their bloody sacrament.
 
The heroes are likely to cross paths with the Court of Hungry Eyes in the process of investigating the rumors because Aeva Callonas has just recently volunteered with the Court to help them feed people. She and a half-dozen other volunteers from the community staff the Court’s soup lines every week for the past two months since the cult’s leadership arrived in the city. The soup lines are located in a particularly impoverished part of Dalewright’s Thicket district, called Twyre Town (the cult operating in Twyre Town is the source of the DC 17 rumor in the Dalewright entry on page XX). While attempting to question Aeva about what she supposedly saw, they may learn about the Court of Hungry Eyes and her recent work with them.
 
Aeva is one of the Court’s marked victims, whom they intend to consume as a part of their Feast of the Stars ritual. They can tell she’s been touched by the magical hunger they’re looking for, but can’t figure out how, and will seek to interrogate her before sacrificing her to their nightmarish appetites. In a way, both the Court and the heroes are on the same hunt without even realizing it.
 
==== '''Resolving the Quest''' ====
There are a few ways this setup can play out: the group may end up stumbling upon the cult in the middle of their ritual interrogation of Aeva Callonas, stopping them from killing the halfling woman, destroying the cult, and thinking the whole thing more or less resolved. They might incorrectly assume this cult is in some way working for the Queen, and make spurious accusations to that end which could get them in trouble. They might also realize that this cult is not actually directly involved with whatever’s going on with the Queen, but is still somehow related.
 
For the bureaucrats and courtiers that hired them to look into this in the first place, it may be enough evidence to say that there was some kind of terrible eldritch cult eating people in Dalewright, and somehow rumors of this cult’s activities got mixed up with the Queen. To make this connection more strongly, one of the cultists could be a distant cousin of the Queen’s, or else one of the Queen’s more well-known detractors. In reality this would be nothing but a mere coincidence, but it could make for a sufficiently compelling explanation that Kelmund Athora and his compatriots may be content to stop looking into the matter.
 
They might, however, hear about Aeva’s testimony and what some surviving members of the cult might have to say about being attracted to Dalewright by the hunger pangs of a powerful eldritch abomination, and conclude that the Queen is very much afflicted by something dark and terrible. In any case, for “resolving” Kelmund’s inquiry the heroes will receive 700 sc and +2 Aristocratic Goodwill in Dalewright.
 
== Dalewright ==
'''''Read Aloud:''''' ''A city of great and venerable beauty lies before you. One that is both built up - of stone and timber and brick, of smoke-curling chimneys and loudly rolling wagons - and yet somehow wholly in harmony with nature. A city at home, nestled amongst the green hills and sparse trees atop and around which it stands. The smells are those of a city, certainly, but there is a slight herbaceous sweetness to the air, like the city itself is a calming cup of tea ready to be enjoyed.''
 
''Atop the largest hill, dominating the rest of the vista, you see a palace as resplendent as any you might find in the world. Gleaming white stone blocks dangling with verdant green vines, gold-colored roof tiles and marble archways.''
 
''In the distance, above the din of the city and its people, the sea can be heard. And when the wind blows from the east, a slight salt tang can be tasted on the air.''
 
Dalewright is the capital city of Kendaria, the home to the nation’s Queen Astaria Gilian III, and the seat of the nation’s culture and power. It is a bustling, metropolitan city by the sea, but one that is decidedly less “modern” in many ways than comparable cities across Ancerra. They have historically been slow to adopt new structures and trends favored elsewhere, with a slow walk towards mercantilism, and an aristocracy that always seems to be ten years behind the fashions of the rest of the world.
 
As with many things in Kendaria, Dalewright moves at its own pace.
 
When the heroes arrive in Dalewright, or if any wish to roll an INT check to see what sorts of things they might know about the city, you may use the following table to give them tidbits of lore, or as a guideline for the sorts of things they may know about the city based on their roll. Characters native to Dalewright should know at least the first two pieces of Lore, and at least the first Rumor below.
 
Info
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