Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

In the years between rising to the throne and first setting sail against his neighbors, the tale of Unke the Red fades into the mist of conflicting tales, some say that he bedded a mermaid from the deeps and sired upon her twenty sons who would aid their father in war others that he spent all his days delving what would become the Thousand Caves and still others that he was a man concerned with nothing but war and bloodshed, ever raiding down the southern coast for gold and ivory. the latter at least can be accounted by the appearance of the crown of the King of a Korman which is wrought of twice curling ivory unlike any natural beast and harder than finest bronze as well as the gold of the Great Lands. In the usual run of things I might hesitate to recount a 'tall tale' from royal lips about her kin no less, but I have seen and with my own hands made things more extraordinary things than the tusks of the Iron Horn Watcher. Even the fact that the beast could supposedly talk 'with the tongue of man' I cannot gainsay, for that would be to discount some of mine own companions, to say nothing of the One Horn I met in the north

[A small note is scribbled in the margins, its script far less fine: One Horn is a bad name for any creature. What if you should come upon more beasts with but one horn?]

Still one must draw the line at prophecy that the dying beast supposedly gave to the king as it breathed its last. The powers beyond are fickle and to call them is an art, few artists can work upon their last breath. Still it was said that the beast had a fondness for riddles and it offered the king one of them:


By most accounts the Redman laughed, caring not for the mumbling of the dying and he went back to his land and wed his beloved, she for whom he had shed the blood of his kin. Yet though the king did not stray far from her bed in those days she did not quicken and soon men where whispering that she was barren, for behold did not his other wife give him strong sons, yet Unke would not set her aside and would have been content to see the realm pass to one of the sons of lesser wives for after all had he not been one such himself?

And so the tale might have ended had it not been for the the mischance of one Spring moon when the king came upon his second wife in too close a company with his cousin... the son of the man he had killed. And so Unke was twice a kinslayer and he had his second wife strangled with her favorite silk scarf. The son of his cousin and the fruit of his shame he sent away lest he kill the boy also.

Many seers and sorcerers did the king see, and after that the healers and the herbalists for it was clear that the curse of the beast had been in his youth, that he should never father a child and the land which he had built up strong and fair, of all the lands of the Anwa the fairest would not pass to his blood. Thus he want to a holy man who bore the Crook of Ashinu and asked how might he, a king and by right of blood a warrior be cursed with such a fate for the slaying of one damnable beast. For three days and three nights he matched wits with the priest and until at least the holy men agreed that it is the nature of kings to go to war and shed blood... yet just when it seemed as though the curse would be lifted the holy mad made one last point which the world would regret.

A king thou art, but among the island only one of five, as a finger is to a man's hand, one finger cannot grasp the prize you would claim

Reading the above upon the page, one can guess how the king chose to resolve his conundrum

OOC: Keep in mind this is a transcription of oral history, far from 100% fact. Also I will maintain that the reason that poem does not have proper cadence is that the Anwari language shifted and definitely not because it is really late and I could not figure out a way to make it fit this late.

Thirty Sixth Day of Elnu-eza (Elnu Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

The hour is late and cups of bitter tea and been drained over and over again. Zaia rubs the tiredness from his eyes peering over the strange and often indecipherable plaques that serve as the charts of the islands. Though Antonio's seeking has been fueled by rather more pleasurable drink he too will pay the price in the end, but their sacrifice will not be in vain. You now know more of the lands north and south of the capital where Obari's power is strongest. Both of them have a strong stone keep, higher and more perilous by far than what you had raised at Wayfatrer's Respite and by long custom all of them are prepared for a siege... ever since the Redman's War some six hundred years ago Korman has been wary of its neighbors, fearful of how they might retaliate, not nowhere is this stronger than in the lands that owe fealty directly to the the high hall of the king.

News of the old king's fate had spread on the wings of rumor, from those who sympathize with Aina, but they had found barren ground among the warriors eager to spear to their young king, there is loose talk about of paying back Lirman for its attack and little in the way of piety. One 'weaselly old fellow' had apparently told Antonio that you would find little in the way of piety in Owkuta as one of the great plinths of the Stone Watchers had fallen into a sacred pool three years past and it had killed three men when they had sought to set it aright under the eye of their priest. the priest himself had been wounded. When he railed against the kin of the men who had died for some cause it had all spiraled into a brawl and the priest had been driven out 'never to darken a clan hall's doorway again'. Most think he had been finished off somewhere in the wilds and few in the village seem to mourn him.

"I have to hand it to the sons of bitches, wouldn't dare the wrath of Ikomi after haveing called down her wrath like that but they are still on the sea," another old salt proclaims with grudging admiration.

On the other edge of the sword though you are heartened to hear that they seem to still keep to the prayers and practices of their kin in Owkuta, seeming to have a problem more with priests than with their gods. How swiftly things have changed for you to feel thus, you think shaking your head in brief bemusement.

Of Iyotemi you managed to find a woman who used to be a potter there willing to speak of all she knows for a few coins and a healing by Inge of the burns across her hand. Almost you would prefer not to know how she came by them... but no, tis better always to walk through life clear eyed.

"Ibori was stolen away in a raid by Lirman raiders, House Akuto, one of their captains thought to make her his wife," Antonio explains. "A hard passage, but as soon as she made it to shore she made the King's Pledge and was freed..." seeing your confusion he explains. "When a woman is stolen away from her kin without her will or theirs she can under the custom of the Islands come to the king's halls and throw herself on his mercy. The king can then either take her for his own or let her loose with a gift of his courtesy and call the raider to account, usually carvng a lot more sliver out of his pouch than he gave the woman."

"And this custom is only for Anwari women?" you only half ask, not bothering to hide your disgust.

"They are the only ones who would know to call on it," Antonio shrugs. "Either way she knows bout the Anjo Oru, that is why she looked for us, says she saw something in the water, like the shadow made flesh with a mouth like the gates of hell and the headman of Iyotemi was feeding prisoners and criminals to it, that's why Ibori didn't seek shelter behind the walls until it was too late when the raiders came, so she got caught and brought here and now we know a little more than we did before."

"A shadow with a mouth like hell isn't saying much," Zaia frets. "I wish we had some way to tell..." Suddenly he jumps to his feet and only returns with a sleepy Swift Pebble on his shoulder.

Fortunately you are able to find Ibori again... fortunately for the cause of understanding at least. The poor otter-kin coils in on herself in sheer terror when she 'hears' in her mind an account of the beast in the waters of Iyotemi. Alas it seems that men are not the only creatures that can be infected by the neverborn.


Thus it is in that black mood that you meet with Aina and learn at last from her that happened to Lina Osane, sister of the king and daughter of the sea. "As soon as the old Lord of the Iranea did not show at court she was worried and she waited with baited breath all day for word to come from some secret place and it did not come, she said her freinds had been betrayed and her brother had turned against her. There were guards on her door then, but not very good ones, for on the evening of her third day Lina was gone and the king distraught and seeking her. I think that she is gone, but not in the company of her mothers kin, other dwellers in deep water."

So then the king had known that one of his clan heads had been killed and replaced with an impostor, struck a deal with them to keep his sister from the sea fey who called her and then... Ohun had discovered the truth and persuaded King Ansefu to turn against the shape changers only for his sister to vanish, perhaps in their company.

What do you want to do next?
Day 4/5

[] Learn more about the people of Korman, you have played a diplomat once, perhaps you can do so again
-[] The Loyal Clans
-[] The Rebel Villages

[] Approach the king himself about the way in which the campaign will unfold and your place in it

[] Buy something at the market in Orinilu
-[] Write in what

[] Covertly approach the Iranea, now that they are no longer puppets perhaps you can restore some manner of goodwill, perhaps even strike the deal with their smiths again

[] Write in

OOC: A bit more about the darker customs of your current allies and a mystery starting to come to light. Not yet edited.