Dispatches from Ardin, Pt II
The Fantastic Few: The Treeleaf Union and Its Fortunate Saviors
by Rutik Kapuscinski, (9/4/918)
This Saturday Ardin will celebrate its first full week of rainless nights in months, an entire region celebrating the end of their suffering and the start of a new era of prosperity. The spirits haunting the marshes are now becalmed, a wraithlike Bianca Avon now defeated and her corrupting influence dispelled.
And how was this accomplished? With much of the Treeleaf Union's military focused on building up its navy to compete with rival powers in the Karaga Sea, the rural marshlands have been left to search for alternative solutions to their problems. Which is how a band of fascinating adventurers from the Gilded Hecat Guild found themselves in Ardin, this bastion of commerce rising from the ruins of the Sunken God's reign of terror. The cost has been great as the bounties piled up, but the momentary pains of bounty payouts are dwarfed by comparison to the costs of complacency had Bianca been allowed to usher in an undead Elflands Empire.
But who are these heroes, who for the past month have risked life and limb to improve our lonely quarter of the world? None of them have any family or cultural ties to the Union, mere mercenary concerns pulled them from the mountains of Bahamut to our troubled marshes. Praise them from afar and thank them for their sacrifices, but make no mistake: these are professional adventurers, ones with mastery over life and death that should not be taken lightly.
Without further ado, the saviors of the Imperial Marshes:
To begin with, the lone casualty of the Fantastic Few, Argus was a reformed pirate seeking a new lease on life as an adventurer-for-hire. Charming and pleasant to talk to, he always had a fascinating yarn to weave and patiently listened to other’s stories no matter how dull. He fell victim to Bianca’s necrotic powers in the aqueducts she used as her base of operations, his sturdy build and quick-witted remarks no match for evil incarnate. “It has been an age too long since I’ve had such a delightful and inquisitive guest,” said Bobbin Weatherford, a local historian of the Elflands Empire. “Few understand the importance of history, but he immediately recognized the importance of every talisman and relic of the Empire.
For many decades Argus was a member of the Heavy Metal Pirates, one of the numerous pirate guilds that flourished under the reign of Myltev's Cpt. Tarkov. At one point the bugbear’s bounty was as high as 2,500GP, wanted for ‘skullduggery, thievery, and the excessive recounting of salacious yarns’. The Heavy Metal Pirates suffered the same fate as many guilds under the new reign of King Nikolaj Baratov in the 900’s, forced to disband or shift their enterprises further from Nikolaj’s hostile regime. By the time Argus enlisted with the Gilded Hecat Guild, his bounty was a paltry sum that would not have raised the ire of even the most paranoid Sardivelian bureaucrat.
He is survived by two dozen siblings and his mother, Matriarch Achroddir Zatari of Hedgpeth.
Bubbles may appear as a humble grung with a childlike eagerness to explore the world, but this should not be construed as an invitation to underestimate their abilities. As the Sardivelian report of Ilariano Vivaldi's execution attests, Bubbles suffered for months under gruesome experiments and tortures unfathomable until escaping by their own powers. With some innate connection to the waters of the marshlands, Bubbles is reported to have summoned monsters to fight on their behalf and fend off Bianca’s spirits.
While many of the frogfolk’s allies are simply interested in pecuniary matters, Bubbles appears to have a more wholesome interest in the world and its many wonders. “The grung likes their desserts,” says Euron Shalhoub, the tiefling owner of the Sandbox Tavern in downtown Ardin that became the unofficial headquarters for the Fantastic Few. “I had to learn how to make cannolis while the group stayed here.”
Although the marshes appeared to have considerably aged Bubbles, their childlike wonder remains and will hopefully stand as an inspiration for the many grung refugees in Pescaliat's ports and harbors.
A young woman by the name of Phaedra appeared to be the party’s leader, handling interviews and identifying the team’s various strengths and roles. She’s certainly the most public-facing member of the group, going on morning jogs every day to survey Ardin’s woeful state and provide a small ounce of hope to the town’s inhabitants.
“She came by to visit one morning before my shift!” said Gilbert Pigkicker, a local sewage worker. “There’s something about her, you can’t help but being optimistic about things when you’re around her. Even when you’re surrounded by shit.”
A recent alum of Mulane College in our own beloved capital, she appears more comfortable with the adventuring life than stifling academic environments. This is understandable: her parents were professors at Tahrir College in Sabha's capital of Orem until they were outed as cultists of the yuan-ti goddess Merrshaulk, hence her mononymous moniker and her search for purpose beyond the ivory towers of academia. Phaedra has a long and bright future ahead of her, no matter where she goes or who she inspires.
Not much is known about Windred Ozlow, the Fantastic Few’s most reclusive member. A native of Avicenna, she was identified as the party’s healer by Phaedra and seems to be the resident medic with her homebrewed cures and remedies. Not one for the spotlight, she spends most of her time in town with her fellow adventurers or brewing healing potions for upcoming quests.
“There was one day she didn’t come down for breakfast until three in the afternoon,” said Euron Shalhoub. “She had a whole new sleeve of tattoos, and all she asked for was a single cup of coffee before disappearing upstairs for another 13 hours.”
While some may ascribe Windred’s antisocial tendencies to Avicennan racism towards non-human races, I must say that Avicennan attitudes have changed considerably in the past forty years. Postwar Avicenna has now become a haven for many eccentrics and curious individuals around Pescaliat; as the daughter of two lighthouse keepers Windred certainly has a more open-minded worldview than what is commonly portrayed in Gamerian plays and literature.
And now we come to the Fantastic Few’s most mysterious adventurers: Ysmyrelda Starr and Zan'kiri. A native of Despero, records indicate that Ysmyrelda may be the long-lost daughter of the charlatan criminal of the 850’s with whom she shares a name. Ysmyrelda’s mother was present at the Ashera Massacre* of 850, after which she became a prolific smuggler for Jupiter Talzerine’s criminal enterprise.
Perhaps seeking to redeem her family name, Ysmyrelda has become an adventurer far from her homeland to prove that our pasts do not define our futures. If this is her motive, it has proven quite difficult to confirm: she has not been present at any party interviews, and few Ardin locals remember even seeing her around town.
“I silvered her rapiers, but then she vanished off the face of Ekal,” said Jo Silvermaker, Ardin’s sole expert on silvering weapons. “She appreciates craftsmanship, but don’t expect a gift basket in return.”
Finally, Zan’kiri. While some have identified him as some vestigial subrace of orc, Broggfey's Great Yodelsome Accountment of Families in 899 does not mention any person or family fitting his description. Regardless of his ethnic origin, Zan’kiri’s magical prowess has become quite clear over the course of his adventures: necromancy.
“He’s so freaking awesome!!” said Frogina George, an unemployed bullywug and self-proclaimed acolyte of Zan’kiri. “His spells go ‘woosh!’ and his skeletons go ‘augh!’, and then all those ghosts go ‘blegh!’”
Necromancy, as many are aware, is a dangerous form of spellcasting that has led to much suffering throughout Pescaliat in recent decades. The lich Fairouz the Undying used her necromatic powers to nearly topple the governments of Liat four decades ago, and in this century the terrorist Zilocke used necromancy to perpetrate the most terrible hate crime in modern history by murdering 15 elven merchants in the Rakkan port city of Qilthani. Necromancy has proven to be a powerful and destructive force in modern Ekal, and while it has led to positive gains in the Treeleaf Union it cannot be said with confidence if that will be the case for other nations and kingdoms in the region.
Such is why the Edict of Dromire, an Ageless One-approved order regulating the practice of necromancy on Ekal, is slowly gaining traction. If passed this next spring, the Edict will force all necromancers to be approved by a council of regulators before they can be allowed to use their magicks. House Hainaut, the world’s most preeminent necromancers, will make up a majority of the council’s membership and ensure that future necromancers avoid the misfortune their family suffered for centuries by ignoring the Ageless One’s will. “When originally summoned, many skeletons and zombies are inherently evil,” said Matriarch Marwen Hainaut, a vocal advocate for the new Edict. “It takes a steady and moral hand to guide these undead forces and ensure they comply with the Ageless One’s merciful standards.”
Perhaps less controversially, Zan'kri does possess a proficiency with metalworking. Euron Shalhoub confirmed that he's thought on multiple occasions to stop Zan'kiri from forging iron on tavern property but stayed silent in the face of the spellcaster's abilities. "The guy knows what he's doing," said the beleagured tavernkeeper. "When the choice is between stopping his work or filling up his coffee cup, I'll take the coffee every time".
For better or for worse, these are the saviors of Ardin from a new century of oppression by elven forces from beyond the grave. This is not the Royal Knights Brigade, tempered by a generation of failures and reckonings to become a bulwark against the world’s evil. But this is also not the Avventuri, a merchandising franchise masquerading as heroes for their patron’s sake. Despite their pecuniary interests, these are people who believe that the best way to make money is by saving communities from their deeply-entrenched woes. Southern Pescat is far too divided to forge a guild as zealous as the RKB, and likewise lacks the funds to constantly satisfy a group like the Avventuri. Adventurers are a resource like iron or crystals, neutral in their existence but capable of ushering in eras of prosperity or ruin. The Fantastic Few are the greatest distillation of that truth since Rakka's Heroes, and I will continue to report on their successes and failures. - R.K.
*Marquis Geo Vechian's estate insists that the incident be referred to as the Ashera Affair, but as Geo does not possess an understanding of what sells newspapers the Treeleaf Times insists on referring to the Ashera Massacre as such.
by Rutik Kapuscinski, (9/4/918)
This Saturday Ardin will celebrate its first full week of rainless nights in months, an entire region celebrating the end of their suffering and the start of a new era of prosperity. The spirits haunting the marshes are now becalmed, a wraithlike Bianca Avon now defeated and her corrupting influence dispelled.
And how was this accomplished? With much of the Treeleaf Union's military focused on building up its navy to compete with rival powers in the Karaga Sea, the rural marshlands have been left to search for alternative solutions to their problems. Which is how a band of fascinating adventurers from the Gilded Hecat Guild found themselves in Ardin, this bastion of commerce rising from the ruins of the Sunken God's reign of terror. The cost has been great as the bounties piled up, but the momentary pains of bounty payouts are dwarfed by comparison to the costs of complacency had Bianca been allowed to usher in an undead Elflands Empire.
But who are these heroes, who for the past month have risked life and limb to improve our lonely quarter of the world? None of them have any family or cultural ties to the Union, mere mercenary concerns pulled them from the mountains of Bahamut to our troubled marshes. Praise them from afar and thank them for their sacrifices, but make no mistake: these are professional adventurers, ones with mastery over life and death that should not be taken lightly.
Without further ado, the saviors of the Imperial Marshes:
To begin with, the lone casualty of the Fantastic Few, Argus was a reformed pirate seeking a new lease on life as an adventurer-for-hire. Charming and pleasant to talk to, he always had a fascinating yarn to weave and patiently listened to other’s stories no matter how dull. He fell victim to Bianca’s necrotic powers in the aqueducts she used as her base of operations, his sturdy build and quick-witted remarks no match for evil incarnate. “It has been an age too long since I’ve had such a delightful and inquisitive guest,” said Bobbin Weatherford, a local historian of the Elflands Empire. “Few understand the importance of history, but he immediately recognized the importance of every talisman and relic of the Empire.
For many decades Argus was a member of the Heavy Metal Pirates, one of the numerous pirate guilds that flourished under the reign of Myltev's Cpt. Tarkov. At one point the bugbear’s bounty was as high as 2,500GP, wanted for ‘skullduggery, thievery, and the excessive recounting of salacious yarns’. The Heavy Metal Pirates suffered the same fate as many guilds under the new reign of King Nikolaj Baratov in the 900’s, forced to disband or shift their enterprises further from Nikolaj’s hostile regime. By the time Argus enlisted with the Gilded Hecat Guild, his bounty was a paltry sum that would not have raised the ire of even the most paranoid Sardivelian bureaucrat.
He is survived by two dozen siblings and his mother, Matriarch Achroddir Zatari of Hedgpeth.
Bubbles may appear as a humble grung with a childlike eagerness to explore the world, but this should not be construed as an invitation to underestimate their abilities. As the Sardivelian report of Ilariano Vivaldi's execution attests, Bubbles suffered for months under gruesome experiments and tortures unfathomable until escaping by their own powers. With some innate connection to the waters of the marshlands, Bubbles is reported to have summoned monsters to fight on their behalf and fend off Bianca’s spirits.
While many of the frogfolk’s allies are simply interested in pecuniary matters, Bubbles appears to have a more wholesome interest in the world and its many wonders. “The grung likes their desserts,” says Euron Shalhoub, the tiefling owner of the Sandbox Tavern in downtown Ardin that became the unofficial headquarters for the Fantastic Few. “I had to learn how to make cannolis while the group stayed here.”
Although the marshes appeared to have considerably aged Bubbles, their childlike wonder remains and will hopefully stand as an inspiration for the many grung refugees in Pescaliat's ports and harbors.
A young woman by the name of Phaedra appeared to be the party’s leader, handling interviews and identifying the team’s various strengths and roles. She’s certainly the most public-facing member of the group, going on morning jogs every day to survey Ardin’s woeful state and provide a small ounce of hope to the town’s inhabitants.
“She came by to visit one morning before my shift!” said Gilbert Pigkicker, a local sewage worker. “There’s something about her, you can’t help but being optimistic about things when you’re around her. Even when you’re surrounded by shit.”
A recent alum of Mulane College in our own beloved capital, she appears more comfortable with the adventuring life than stifling academic environments. This is understandable: her parents were professors at Tahrir College in Sabha's capital of Orem until they were outed as cultists of the yuan-ti goddess Merrshaulk, hence her mononymous moniker and her search for purpose beyond the ivory towers of academia. Phaedra has a long and bright future ahead of her, no matter where she goes or who she inspires.
Not much is known about Windred Ozlow, the Fantastic Few’s most reclusive member. A native of Avicenna, she was identified as the party’s healer by Phaedra and seems to be the resident medic with her homebrewed cures and remedies. Not one for the spotlight, she spends most of her time in town with her fellow adventurers or brewing healing potions for upcoming quests.
“There was one day she didn’t come down for breakfast until three in the afternoon,” said Euron Shalhoub. “She had a whole new sleeve of tattoos, and all she asked for was a single cup of coffee before disappearing upstairs for another 13 hours.”
While some may ascribe Windred’s antisocial tendencies to Avicennan racism towards non-human races, I must say that Avicennan attitudes have changed considerably in the past forty years. Postwar Avicenna has now become a haven for many eccentrics and curious individuals around Pescaliat; as the daughter of two lighthouse keepers Windred certainly has a more open-minded worldview than what is commonly portrayed in Gamerian plays and literature.
And now we come to the Fantastic Few’s most mysterious adventurers: Ysmyrelda Starr and Zan'kiri. A native of Despero, records indicate that Ysmyrelda may be the long-lost daughter of the charlatan criminal of the 850’s with whom she shares a name. Ysmyrelda’s mother was present at the Ashera Massacre* of 850, after which she became a prolific smuggler for Jupiter Talzerine’s criminal enterprise.
Perhaps seeking to redeem her family name, Ysmyrelda has become an adventurer far from her homeland to prove that our pasts do not define our futures. If this is her motive, it has proven quite difficult to confirm: she has not been present at any party interviews, and few Ardin locals remember even seeing her around town.
“I silvered her rapiers, but then she vanished off the face of Ekal,” said Jo Silvermaker, Ardin’s sole expert on silvering weapons. “She appreciates craftsmanship, but don’t expect a gift basket in return.”
Finally, Zan’kiri. While some have identified him as some vestigial subrace of orc, Broggfey's Great Yodelsome Accountment of Families in 899 does not mention any person or family fitting his description. Regardless of his ethnic origin, Zan’kiri’s magical prowess has become quite clear over the course of his adventures: necromancy.
“He’s so freaking awesome!!” said Frogina George, an unemployed bullywug and self-proclaimed acolyte of Zan’kiri. “His spells go ‘woosh!’ and his skeletons go ‘augh!’, and then all those ghosts go ‘blegh!’”
Necromancy, as many are aware, is a dangerous form of spellcasting that has led to much suffering throughout Pescaliat in recent decades. The lich Fairouz the Undying used her necromatic powers to nearly topple the governments of Liat four decades ago, and in this century the terrorist Zilocke used necromancy to perpetrate the most terrible hate crime in modern history by murdering 15 elven merchants in the Rakkan port city of Qilthani. Necromancy has proven to be a powerful and destructive force in modern Ekal, and while it has led to positive gains in the Treeleaf Union it cannot be said with confidence if that will be the case for other nations and kingdoms in the region.
Such is why the Edict of Dromire, an Ageless One-approved order regulating the practice of necromancy on Ekal, is slowly gaining traction. If passed this next spring, the Edict will force all necromancers to be approved by a council of regulators before they can be allowed to use their magicks. House Hainaut, the world’s most preeminent necromancers, will make up a majority of the council’s membership and ensure that future necromancers avoid the misfortune their family suffered for centuries by ignoring the Ageless One’s will. “When originally summoned, many skeletons and zombies are inherently evil,” said Matriarch Marwen Hainaut, a vocal advocate for the new Edict. “It takes a steady and moral hand to guide these undead forces and ensure they comply with the Ageless One’s merciful standards.”
Perhaps less controversially, Zan'kri does possess a proficiency with metalworking. Euron Shalhoub confirmed that he's thought on multiple occasions to stop Zan'kiri from forging iron on tavern property but stayed silent in the face of the spellcaster's abilities. "The guy knows what he's doing," said the beleagured tavernkeeper. "When the choice is between stopping his work or filling up his coffee cup, I'll take the coffee every time".
For better or for worse, these are the saviors of Ardin from a new century of oppression by elven forces from beyond the grave. This is not the Royal Knights Brigade, tempered by a generation of failures and reckonings to become a bulwark against the world’s evil. But this is also not the Avventuri, a merchandising franchise masquerading as heroes for their patron’s sake. Despite their pecuniary interests, these are people who believe that the best way to make money is by saving communities from their deeply-entrenched woes. Southern Pescat is far too divided to forge a guild as zealous as the RKB, and likewise lacks the funds to constantly satisfy a group like the Avventuri. Adventurers are a resource like iron or crystals, neutral in their existence but capable of ushering in eras of prosperity or ruin. The Fantastic Few are the greatest distillation of that truth since Rakka's Heroes, and I will continue to report on their successes and failures. - R.K.
*Marquis Geo Vechian's estate insists that the incident be referred to as the Ashera Affair, but as Geo does not possess an understanding of what sells newspapers the Treeleaf Times insists on referring to the Ashera Massacre as such.
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