frp

• Third Age, Year 1108
• 15 Apr - Battle with the Rain King
• 16 Apr - Heal and prepare for travel; Roget puts on the ring
• 18 Apr - Trolls!

Overall success roll (high is good): 80

Two weeks was a good estimate. The trip is roughly equivalent to walking from Portland to Pendleton - or Portland to Roseburg - except that there are hills to navigate. Better analogy: Lincoln City to Bend.

23 April, 2:30am - A middle-of-the-night encounter with something scary…

30 April - Find burned bridge (see below)

1 May - Reach Miakoda (and the mines)

As the party descends out of the hills late in the two weeks, the path will join up with a river. The river meanders down into a valley and the path crosses several smaller streams as it does this. Most of these are easily fordable, and the others have small bridges - with one exception.

On the largest of the side streams, the bridge has been burnt out. Careful forensics might reveal that the burn occurred roughly one month ago. This was done by Hky-you-hay (KAI you hay) rangers under orders from Odin, their leader. Odin fears an invasion after the appearance of the Slaad and Kendrick's stone guardians. The rangers are known to the locals as “Tupi” and are highly respected (and feared).

The day after the burnt bridge, the party will be spotted by a lookout post. They will sound a horn and within minutes, six Tupi will approach cautiously. These men are: Fighter/2, hp 17, AC 15 (+1 DEX, +4 Armor) - though combat will be unlikely. The leader of this squad is a man named Howahkan. He is quite reasonable, but will not let the party pass until he has discussed their plans for quite some time. And even then, he and his men will escort the group to the town of Miakoda. (see section III for more information)

Once the party has earned his trust, Howahkan will reveal that a Blue Slaad brought Kendrick's stone guardians to the mines. This is, in fact, the same Slaad that Kendrick released. The stone guardians (six in all) were deposited (one at a time) on the workers at the mines. The first one, naturally, caused quite a stir and the miners were forced to flee. However, Odin sent the Tupi in to keep guard - so when the others were brought in, they were successfully destroyed. This happened over the course of a week starting around March 20th (Howahkan is unsure of the date).

Now, the mines are well guarded by the Tupi - there are around 20 total. And, Odin himself has become more paranoid about sinister plots and evil invasions. As a result, mining operations have been stepped up in preparation for a large-scale military campaign.

The Hky-you-hay have always been a little paranoid about their neighbors, the Sibutco. Odin's people control the trade route to the coastal tribes and the Sibutco are always trying to smuggle goods past them. Now, however, with the magic change and the appearance of strange creatures, Odin is convinced that some sinister force means to do him in. While he has no evidence that the Sibutco are involved, they are the only targets he has!

The Sibutco leader is a man known as Apollo. Few in either tribe are aware that their leaders have the names of gods - and those that are do not think it is significant in any way. The party, however, may think otherwise when they encounter more and more leaders with such names!

The miners live in a walled town called Miakoda. It is a (reasonably) impressive fortress that houses around 800 people inside, and roughly the same number in the surrounding huts and teepees. There is a strong class division between the poor miners and the wealthy traders - and there are slaves! (Though this will not be apparent to the party unless they spend some time and ask the right questions).

The town of Miakoda is a pure capitalist enclave. The traders react with economic motivations - although part of that economic equation involves Odin and his army.

Once inside Miakoda, the group will be introduced to Malia, a woman who is the head of the traders association that rules the town. She is, in a sense, the chief of the town - but the politics here are quite unlike any place the party has seen so far. Her overriding concern is about the trade route to the Dyanai. She does not seem concerned at all about invasion, but will spend much of her time asking about the Lomasi (and the Rain King).

After she is satisfied, she will allow the party to go freely. But she will suggest that they stay and avail themselves of what the town offers. While this might be construed as a threat, it is actually no more than a little opportunistic salesmanship.

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