Vignettes, 4710-4711 AR

A delegation arrives from Brevoy, bearing gold and supplies, and Luka is knighted and given the role of Baron of the newly pacified lands. Luka swore his vows, and the delegate, a middle-aged knight, informed them of 250 people in Restov ready to swear allegiance to Luka and his nation. A gift, presented by the delegation, was a casket of exotic elven wine, and the party proceeded to make several toasts to their victory. Luka dumped out all 36 of the Stag Lord's silver amulets, vowing to make his crown out of them.

A week later, they were standing before the ruins of the Stag Lord's Fort, watching construction. The party was asked to lay the first stone of the new castle, and a dwarven smith presented Luka with the silver Circlet of Shrikemarch. The people swore fealty, and the party proceeded to tease Luka about needing a wife and an heir. He proceeded to turn bright red at this, to the party's great amusement. A nameless hunter wanted to build a house, and they sold the land for 5 Elk pelts, and that became a sort of early standard price for housing. The castle slowly took shape, and the heads of Beaky the Owlbear and a Tatzlwyrm were mounted in the halls. Mikmek and his kobolds were vital in the construction, and Luka made Mikmek his squire, promising to train the Kobolds in warfare. Yi agreed to help with this, wanting to test the mettle of these small scaly fellows. Yi discovered that they were quite cowardly and not strong at all, but they were indeed master strategists when given time to prepare.

Vizma

On the last day of Desnus, 4710AR, Vizma went off into the forest to do his Druidic magic as he usually did. He'd notice a higher fae presence in the woods, mostly grigs, but on the way back to the castle he ran into something unusual - Yulia was waiting for him in the forest. She judged him as a man of practicality, which he agreed to, and she wanted to know how his "flourishing" magic worked. Vizma said it was just the natural course of things, his magic only amplifying it - Yulia got to the point and said that as Spymaster, she would probably need to disappear people and was offering these people as sacrifices for his magic. In exchange, he asked for a way to conceal his alignment from detection - Yulia said she could work on it, and they did their Evil Handshake and went on their merry ways.

In the second month, Yi went on scouting trips, bringing a few kobolds along to see where their strengths could be used. He wanted them to know how to best disarm, grapple and trip foes. Mikmek began setting up the Sootscale cavern for mining and human inhabitants.

Luka

After a council meeting, Akiros Ismort would request a meeting with Baron Luka, which he granted. He wanted to thank Luka personally for not only sparing his life, but giving him the high position of Warden. They discussed the rage they both had inside them for a little bit, Akiros being very familiar with what Luka had felt after his mentor's death. Akiros also reported that the guards were doing their jobs well, and Luka hoped that if they needed to be disciplined, the Warden would treat them with the same lenient firmness that the party had treated him with. They drank and seemed to make up with each other after so many months.

Nisha celebrated her birthday privately on the 16th of Sarenith, not wanting anything special. At night, however, she went out to look at the stars, thanking Desna for bringing her to a place where she felt she could truly belong. Yulia got her a birthday gift - a potion, an Elixir of Hiding. Nisha was thankful, but hoped she'd never need to use it - Yulia agreed and left awkwardly.

In the third month of construction, Sarenith, the kobolds officially joined the Barony. Their silver, of fine enough quality to make their dwarven smith emotional, was being exported upriver to Brevoy, bringing great prosperity to the Shrikemarch. An elven farmer named Kolvar came to court one day, thanking them for the lands they had given him, and proposed an idea: an elk breeding program. The council debated long and hard on this, but ultimately gave him the go ahead. Artesia was very sure this would turn out poorly, and the discussion somehow lead into constructing a graveyard in the city.

Nisha

One day, a guard came to Nisha and informed her that a caravan had appeared at the gates. Nisha went to investigate, seeing that it was, indeed, a Varisian caravan, and hesitantly approached it. A Cleric of Desna greeted her in Varisian, informing her that he had seen a vision that this place was now safe and they decided to see for themselves. Nisha told the guards to let them in, and the locals were more than happy to trade with the caravaneers. An old woman approached Nisha once all was set up, revealing herself as a Cleric of Pharasma and that she had come here by Pharasma's will to purify unclean land. After being taken to the graveyard, she told Nisha that they had accidentally built their capital on a cursed burial ground. Luka was summoned, and approved after some initial suspicion. Nisha and the old lady talked about the Varisian card-reading tradition, and then the old lady consecrated the graveyard in a 24-hour ritual. Nisha waved her goodbye, and smiled as she watched the tents of her people inside a city for once.

In Arodus, the barony expanded up the river, and a new farm was constructed as a Human-Kobold dual project, as the kobolds wished to learn the art of agriculture.

Yi

Four kobolds greeted Yi outside his room one morning, kneeling before him and asking to the taught in the way of the Gentle Fist monk. Yi was internally quite happy about it, but asked the Kobolds if they were really up to the task, which the scaled fellows claimed to be. He invited them in for (non-alcoholic) drinks, and set about training them over the next few weeks. Some human settlers eventually joined, learning the ways of peace, forsaking violence, meditation, resisting temptations and wrestling. A small, but growing, religious group was formed around Yi's classes: a small collective of Kraken style monks, which Yi wanted to call the River Eel style. The pacifist monks were put to work in the newly constructed library, collecting and transcribing tomes for the collection.

In the month of Rova, the gold mine was established. A lot of people were excited for this, until Akiros and Yi pointed out that you didn't get to keep the gold you mine. One day, a guardsman approached the gates, warning them of a Shambling Mound attacking the miners. The party rode out to defeat it, and Yi once again managed to grapple a giant monster and they defeated it quite easily, showing that their power had quite a bit. Later in the month, a Town Hall was constructed in Garrett's Rest.

Artesia

One morning in Lamashan, Artesia was woken by a civil servant reporting a mob of rabble at the gates. Yulia reported unrest spreading through the city, and Artesia went down to deal with it, forgoing her usual routine of preening her wings in the morning. She took care to bring Luka along for moral support, and as they arrived at the gates Artesia proceeded to essentially shout the crowd down, as they were angry about having too much work to do and not enough people to do it. She promised them one rest day a week, but warned them that if they did anything like that there would be consequences. One person refused to stand down, and the newly built jail got its first occupant.

Nettle's Crossing was claimed, and a jail was, as said, built. The month turned to Neth, the Thorn River Camp was claimed and cleaned up, and a foundry was built to accommodate the need for new jobs. Luka received a gift for his birthday from Yulia, and he spent his birthday on a public holiday for the people. Yulia ignored Artesia's birthday, which didn't bother her much, as she was busy staring ominously in the direction of Cheliax.

In Kuthona, people were unhappy about the foundry, and the need for more guards became apparent, so a barracks was constructed. The Fairy Nest was added to the Kingdom, and the fishery network expanded. The year rolled around, more fisheries were constructed, and Yi's birthday came around and wasn't celebrated since he didn't really care. Housing and a trade shop were built in the city.

In Calistril, Oleg's Trading Post joined the kingdom, and the fishermen began fishing on the Tuskwater, and the trade shop expanded into a merchant's Guild Hall. Vizma had been working on a druidic grove / cave underneath the castle, which was completed in this month. In Pharast, the Old Sycamore was annexed, building a stone quarry around it, and a pier is built in Garrett's Rest to accommodate the increasing boat traffic.

In Gozran, a shrine to Ragathiel was built near the graveyard and jail, and a herbalist's shop cropped up near the Guild hall. The Fangberry thicket was also claimed and converted for farming, and a Farmer's union was established at the Guildhall.

A number of revelations happened at this stage: the elk project was a success, and Kolver the farmer had now become a druid. The Varisians had constructed a permanent outpost in the city and trade, especially of magical items, increased as a result. The dead had been pacified thanks to the Pharasman cleric, and the fisheries had increased the fish population in both rivers, leading to a bountiful harvest that year.