Session 25
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Beginning XP | 576 XP (Level 6) |
| Beginning gold | 360 gold, 353 silver, 813 copper |
| Ending XP | 929 XP (Level 6) |
| Ending gold | 360 gold, 353 silver, 813 copper |
3 Rova 4710
Return to Hexpan
The party travelled back to Hexpan. In the town square, Gregory was stirring up the locals, accusing the rulers of absenteeism—claiming they’d abandoned Hexpan to go off on adventures while the kingdom ran itself.
Djacques stepped forward first. He talked about what the party had done for the kingdom—the roads, the cleared hexes, the threats put down before they ever reached Hexpan’s walls. Then he shifted tone. He told the man he understood the frustration. People wanted to see their rulers present, and that was fair. He said he’d love to build something together—that Hexpan needed people who cared enough to speak up, and that passion could be put to better use than shouting in a square.
Kairos confronted him, invoking the River Freedoms. By the Second Freedom, they swore to protect the kingdom, and they were keeping that oath—at Candlemere, at the ford, in every hex they’d bled for. Gregory had the First Freedom to shout in their square. But speech didn’t build walls, and speech didn’t kill the things lurking an hour’s ride from his bed. By the Fourth Freedom, he’d entered the court of Hexpan and insulted its ruler by not respecting it.
Leonardo tried a different approach—he stepped forward and loomed over Gregory, trying to intimidate him into backing down. It backfired. The crowd shifted. To them, it looked like the rulers were trying to silence a man for speaking his mind. Murmurs rippled through the square.
Djacques scrambled to recover the situation, heaping praise on the party’s accomplishments. But the tone landed wrong—after Leonardo’s display, it came across less like honest diplomacy and more like a lackey flattering his king. The crowd wasn’t buying it.
10 Rova 4710
Gregory kept at it over the following days. His speeches in the square became a regular occurrence, and a small group of sympathizers started gathering around him.
Kairos studied Gregory more carefully. Something about his accent, his phrasing. She deduced he was from Pitax. That changed things. Linzy had fled from Pitax—whatever Gregory’s motives were, they might not be as grassroots as he claimed.
Kairos shared what she knew with Djacques. Pitax was struggling—caught between Brevoy’s threats, Numerian raiders, and border wars with Mivon. Its king, Irovetti, was a megalomaniac who controlled his artists and bards like puppets, and who preferred to use insults and proxies to tear down his enemies rather than fight them himself. Djacques, as an artist, understood exactly what that meant. This was Irovetti’s style—sending a man with a loud voice to do what he was too cowardly to do with soldiers. A king whose own kingdom was falling apart, trying to destabilize theirs with words.
Leonardo picked up the thread. Irovetti styled himself a patron of the arts, but his Pitax was an abomination to Desna. The Song of the Spheres called on her followers to express themselves freely through art and song—but Irovetti controlled every sculptor, every poet, every performer in his kingdom. Art made under a tyrant’s thumb wasn’t art. It was obedience. And Desna’s anathema forbade causing fear and despair—the very tools Irovetti used to rule. A kingdom that chained its artists and terrorized its people had no business lecturing Hexpan about governance.
While the arguments landed, Djacques worked the edges of the crowd. He used Spread Rumors, seeding whispers that Gregory wasn’t some concerned citizen—he was a foreign agent from Pitax, sent to stir up trouble and weaken Hexpan from the inside. The rumor spread fast. By the time Gregory opened his mouth again, the crowd was looking at him differently. Not as a voice of the people, but as an outsider with an agenda.
The crowd turned. Gregory had lost them. The party gave him a choice: help build Hexpan, or leave and never come back. Gregory refused both. He kept shouting, but nobody was listening anymore. The party made it an ultimatum—work with them, or go. If he ever set foot in Hexpan again after leaving, he’d be arrested.
While scanning the crowd, the party spotted something unusual—a gnome, entirely orange. Skin, hair, clothes, all of it. The Orange Gnome watched the confrontation but said nothing, disappearing back into the crowd before anyone could approach.
17 Rova 4710
The Trial of Gregory
Gregory still wouldn’t budge. So the party put him on trial. The evidence was laid out—his Pitaxian origins, his refusal to contribute, his attempts to destabilize Hexpan on behalf of a foreign power. The verdict: banishment.
The party didn’t stop there. They drafted a hostile diplomatic letter to Pitax, addressed to Irovetti himself, informing him that his agent had been caught and expelled. They made it clear that Hexpan knew exactly what he was doing—sending propagandists to undermine a neighbor he was too weak to challenge openly.
Alongside it, the party sent diplomatic letters to the other River Kingdoms, detailing Pitax’s actions. If Irovetti was willing to plant agitators in Hexpan, he’d do it to anyone. The goal was to isolate Pitax diplomatically—turn the other kingdoms against Irovetti and make him think twice before trying something like this again.
2 Lamashan 4710
The Troll Threat
Two weeks after Gregory’s banishment, Kundal and Nok-nok came running into Hexpan in a panic. They’d been in the south of the Stolen Lands, near the Sellen Hills, and they’d seen trolls. Not just one—many. A troll was approaching Hexpan.
Djacques saw the opportunity. With the crowd still gathered, he announced that the party was riding out to face the troll—right now. This was exactly what they did. Not sitting on thrones, not counting taxes. They fought the things that threatened Amedaria and Hexpan, and they’d keep doing it. Gregory’s words about absentee rulers were still hanging in the air, and here the party was, drawing weapons and marching toward danger before the crowd had even dispersed.
4 Lamashan 4710
Hargulka’s Fortress
The party spent two days travelling south toward the Sellen Hills, timing their arrival for morning. What they found wasn’t a cave—it was an old dwarven guardpost in the southern Narlmarches, claimed by Hargulka. Kairos recognized it. The fort had been built ages ago by dwarves to guard an ancient trade route, but had been abandoned long before living memory. She’d passed it more than once over her 150 years travelling the River Kingdoms. The damage to the walls and towers was extensive, but none of it was new—this was decay, not battle. The trolls had moved into a ruin, not conquered a stronghold.
Djacques’s plan was to enter by daylight—trolls were creatures of darkness, and the sun gave the party an edge. He wanted Kairos to scout the fort first, using stealth or invisibility to map out what they were walking into before the rest of the party committed.
Kairos crept toward the fortress. She didn’t get far. A goblin spotted her from the walls and yelled “And stay out!” From inside, she could hear several voices talking, but couldn’t make out the language.
Kairos tried to talk her way out of it, claiming they were just cartographers—innocent mapmakers, nothing more. An arrow flew from an arrow slit. Kairos slowly backed out of sight.
Once out of view, Kairos cast an invisibility spell and crept back in. Inside, she found a troll arguing with the hobgoblin. While they were distracted, she stole all 18 of the hobgoblin’s crossbow bolts—except the one already loaded in the crossbow.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party walked up to the fortress openly. Leonardo called out in Jotun—the language of the trolls—that they’d come to trade crossbow bolts. The troll grumbled that Hargulka must think they needed more help guarding the fortress. The insult stung more than the visitors did. He let them in.
A hobgoblin jumped down from the walls and sniffed the bolts. His eyes narrowed. “Why do these smell like ours?”
The Entrance Fight
The cover was blown. Djacques cast Summon Underlings, and seven humans materialized around the party—all zealous defenders of Amedaria, flooding the courtyard with yelling about the glory of their kingdom. The underlings swarmed the troll and a second hobgoblin that jumped down from the walls, hacking away with slashing damage.
Kairos cast Sure Strike, then unleashed a Spellstrike with Shocking Grasp. Critical hit. The lightning tore through the troll.
The hobgoblin by the arrow slit fired his last crossbow bolt at Kairos and missed. Then he screamed into the fortress: “AAHHHH WE’RE BEING ATTACKED BY CARTOGRAPHERS!”
The hobgoblin tried to dart past Kairos to get deeper into the fort. Kairos caught him with a Reactive Strike. Leonardo struck the troll and cast Shield of the Spirits on the full party—underlings included. Leonardo had used fire damage—the troll couldn’t regenerate. It dropped dead. Djacques started Courageous Anthem.
The second hobgoblin broke and ran, heading for the throne room to warn the rest of the fortress. The first hobgoblin fled in a different direction—the alarm was spreading through two routes.
Two more trolls charged from the throne room toward the entrance, troll dogs at their heels.
Kairos moved fast. She triggered Bend Time, blurring forward, then cast Haste on herself. Arcane energy crackled around her staff as she entered Arcane Cascade. She whipped her staff around with Spinning Staff to recharge her Spellstrike and caught the hobgoblin in the throne room with the follow-through.
The first hobgoblin turned on the underlings chasing him and struck a few of them. Shield of the Spirits punished him for it—every hit he landed bit back. He killed one of the underlings. Leonardo responded with Glimpse of Redemption, offering the hobgoblin a chance to stop. The hobgoblin declined. Leonardo’s divine retribution hit him anyway.
A troll hound rushed Kairos, snapping twice—one bite missed, the other connected. The second hound charged Leonardo. One of the trolls lunged at Kairos with its jaws, missing twice. Shield of the Spirits made it pay for the attempts. The hobgoblin in the throne room tried to flee. Kairos killed him with a Reactive Strike.
Djacques directed the underlings at the troll hound near Kairos, then cast Haste on Leonardo. Kairos, hasted and fast on her feet, chased down the first hobgoblin and killed him. She doubled back into the throne room and struck the troll hound next to Leonardo. One of the trolls bolted deeper into the throne room and up a flight of stairs—heading for Hargulka.
Leonardo turned on the troll hound caught between him and Kairos and crit with fire damage. It didn’t get back up. He swung at the last troll hound but didn’t finish it. The remaining troll lunged at Leonardo with two jaw attacks—the first missed, the second landed.
Djacques sent five underlings in with daggers to swarm the last troll hound. It was barely standing. He moved into the throne room and cast Soothe on Leonardo. Kairos flanked the troll and Spellstruck with Ignition, burning deep. She followed up with Magus Analysis—weakest save was Will, strongest was Fortitude.
Leonardo finished off the last troll hound and moved to attack the troll. It tried to flee—Kairos caught it with a Reactive Strike, and persistent fire damage ate at it. The troll lashed out at Kairos twice in desperation, missing both times. Shield of the Spirits punished it for the attempts. The fire finished the job. It didn’t regenerate.
The entrance was clear. One troll had escaped up the stairs to warn Hargulka.
Summary:
Major Events (3 Rova – 17 Rova 4710):
- Gregory, a Pitaxian agitator, appeared in Hexpan accusing the party of absenteeism
- The party confronted him publicly, invoking the River Freedoms and Desna’s tenets against Pitax
- Djacques used Spread Rumors to expose Gregory as a foreign agent
- Gregory was tried and banished from Hexpan
- Hostile diplomatic letter sent to Irovetti; letters sent to other River Kingdoms to isolate Pitax
- Spotted the Orange Gnome in the crowd—identity unknown
Major Events (2 – 4 Lamashan 4710):
- Kundal and Nok-nok warned the party about trolls near the Sellen Hills
- The party travelled south and found Hargulka’s Fortress—an old dwarven guardpost
- Kairos scouted invisibly and stole 18 crossbow bolts from a hobgoblin
- Leonardo bluffed the trolls by claiming to be crossbow bolt traders
- Cleared the entrance: killed 3 trolls, 2 troll hounds, and 2 hobgoblins
- One troll escaped upstairs to warn Hargulka
Combat Highlights:
- Kairos landed a critical Spellstrike with Shocking Grasp on a troll
- Leonardo used fire damage consistently to prevent troll regeneration
- The final troll died to Shield of the Spirits retaliatory damage and persistent fire
- ”AAHHHH WE’RE BEING ATTACKED BY CARTOGRAPHERS!”
XP Gained:
- Dealing with Gregory: 60 XP
- Fortress entrance fight (trolls, troll hounds, hobgoblins): 293 XP
- Total: 353 XP
- Session total: 576 XP → 929 XP
Gold Summary:
- Beginning gold: 360 gold, 353 silver, 813 copper
- Ending gold: 360 gold, 353 silver, 813 copper
Loot:
Found/Acquired:
- 18 crossbow bolts (stolen from hobgoblin)