Coming Home
Exhausted from dealing with ghosts and grief, the party decides to go home again. Along the way they pass through the nearby lesser realms that once might have been considered dangerous adventures, but are now merely scenic.
First they encounter the ruins of a city. The duchy of Urtygh has lost its battle with its neighbors; only a handful of desperate, depraved gangs hide in the broken down buildings. The party marches on to the duchy of Biocear, prepared to dispense justice; but the obvious order and cleanliness of the city gives them pause. Earl Valath describes his life-long feud with his hostile neighbors, showing them the tree outside of the city with an Urtyghian arrow embedded in it. Only recently did a heavy infantry mercenary contingent from the Gold Coast tip the balance (the Iron Company, from Journal #27), breaking the Urtygian archery advantage and ending the war. Valath took in those refugees willing to learn to live within the law, farming the many parent-less children out to families willing to take them.
The party negotiates their relationship with Valath; not just as neighboring lords, but as an overlord - a Domain Lord, to be exact. While his duchy will remain independent and pay no taxes, he will recognize their authority and contribute to the defense of the region when necessary. In exchange the party will protect his realm from threats too great for a mere Earl. Threats like love-crazed liches, for instance.
Next they travel to the forbidden desert, from which the Earl warns them that no travelers ever return. Perhaps they are hoping for a terrible monster, but what they find is a kingdom of pint-sized lizardmen: kobolds, to be exact.
The kobolds launch a surprise raid on the party, wounding the Barbarian with a well-hidden ballista and peppering the rest of the party with arrows. The Wizard obliterates the archers while the Barbarian charges the siege weapon, but the Ranger kills or chases off the crew with arrows before he gets there. The Bard discovers a small tunnel and investigates. In the narrow and dark passage, the kobolds are brave enough to parley; the Bard negotiates a meeting with their ruler, to explain their new status as Domain Lords.
The kobolds provide a guide, which proceeds to lead the party into a trap set by the entire kobold realm. Once this would have been a fatal ending; but the party is simply too strong now. They don't even flinch, and the Queen recognizes their courage must be a product of their pussiance.
She does try to bait the Barbarian into a single round of combat, which if he were to survive would convince her that the party is indeed qualified to rule. He actually considers it, adding up the expected damage from hundreds of arrows. But the Ranger refuses her challenge, pointing out that the fact that they do not need to prove themselves is itself sufficient proof. Just as well - the Ranger clearly guessed that the kobolds had a trick up their sleeve, and in fact the Barbarian's survival was well in doubt.
Instead, both parties find a better way to resolve the standoff. The party agrees to head south and crush an orc brigand camp that occasionally causes trouble for the kobolds; the Queen will provide a guide who will also report on their performance.
This adventure would have been quite a challenge, before their trip to the Gold Coast. Now they simply march onto the orc camp, only slightly annoyed that it appears to be a city of several thousand rather than just a biker gang. They storm the keep, opening the gate with a fireball, followed by a mad charge from the Barbarian. The orcs fight valiantly but are severely outclassed and die by the squad. Even the Chieftess's magic is quickly dispatched by the Cleric's storm of mystical hammers.
The kobold guide is suitably impressed, though he points out that true Domain Lords would have crushed a threat like this in a single round, not the three or four it took the party. He agrees on his Queen's behalf to the same deal they made with Valath.
Now the party finally rides into old Varsoulou, to find a community doing well. While they are not thriving, as the cinnamon trade has been utterly disrupted, neither have they been attacked by vampires or demons or what have you. The Ranger tells them they can restart the spice business with Biocear, and openly trade with the kobolds rather than hiding it. The Barbarian is handing out magic swords to the knighthood, increasing both their effectiveness and their loyalty.
In the midst of this domestic tranquility, a dead man walks into the court. He speaks with Kek's voice - "Hey, guys, when are you coming back? I have another problem for you to solve." Kek wants them to collect another tribute, and this time he'll pay 5,000 gp per corpse. When they agree to pay him a visit, the corpse collapses, its magic expended.
