Dominique didn't much like abandoning their venture to seek out the troll threat so soon, but they certainly shouldn't be bringing the child along with them so a short return was in order.

Word of a street preacher blocking the thoroughfare immediately garnered the inquisitor's disapproval. Not because he had been made High Priest--who or what the people worship was hardly his great concern--but because blocking the roads impeded trade, robbed people of productive work, and delayed a much-needed hot bath. After dismounting along with the others and handing the reins of his horse off to an accompanying guard, Dominique slowly and politely made his way through the crowd--intending to put an end to the gathering but not before having a listen to what the man is preaching.

Just waiting to hear more of what he has to say, but in case Dom happens to already know about bit about him:
12:14, Today: Dominique Telvari rolled 12 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 9.  Know: Local. (Trained)

Nobody had seen or heard of this man before. He seemed to be quite the firebrand though and the crowd was listening intently but nobody was calling for revolution so it was unclear how effective his tirade really was.

"Gallivanting built this nation, but I hardly enjoy trudging through swamps.' Dominique responds loudly as he reaches the front of the crowd. "If you'll excuse me," he asks briefly of the preacher as he stands before the crowd and continues, "After cornering and subduing one of the last dangerous bandit clans infesting our lands and securing their leader to face a just and fair trial, we repelled an assault by ogres and trolls which left several good men dead--May Pharasma guide them to their rewards beyond. Rather than retreating here to hide from the new troll threat, we then set off to learn more from and strike truce with the nearby lizardfolk. After securing a lost child from our neighbors we have returned him to his mother. Rest assured, your lord and his council are working diligently in service of all of Rivermarch--here and in the field. Now please disperse and make way for those who need to pass through." Finally, he turns to the street preacher and asks, "You seem particularly interested in the business of the King and General. Would you like to join us for a meal and sate your curiosity as well? We welcome feedback from the people." To the new High Priest this is more than killing with kindness--he and the others admittedly still have no idea how to run a kingdom.

13:45, Today: Dominique Telvari rolled 16 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 6.  Diplomacy.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Thu 15 Sept 2022.

The street preacher seems a little surprised to be called out so directly by one of the ruling council but recovers quickly.

"Notice, friends, that the second someone speaks truth to power suddenly the king and his nobles materialize as if from thin air! What a coincidence that the second the fine citizens here start to think for themselves the whole court shows up to put them back in their place."

A murmor goes through the crowd. From what Kael can overhear the general sentiment isn't that they are necessarily upset but that the timing is indeed a bit suspicious.

The street preacher addresses Dominique but is still blasting away with his fire and brimstone bombast to make sure the crowd can hear their conversation (or at least his side of it) clearly.

"Assuming this invitation is made in good faith then I humbly accept. It would be my privilege to be able to speak for the citizens and address the problems they face directly to court..."

He spins back to the crowd, arm upstretched and finger pointed to the heavens.

"If I am not seen again let that prove a caution to EVERYONE that behind their mask of heroics lies a brutal nature that is intolerable...nay...incompatible with existing with the truth! If I am not seen again it is because I am confined to their DUNGEON or confined to an EXECUTIONER'S BLADE!"

And with that the street preacher finally steeps down from the crate he had been standing on and motions for Dominique and the others to lead the way back towards the castle for this meal.

Unfortunately Dominique was unable to sway the crowd and as word spreads the kingdom's Resolve defense drops to 14 as the people are wondering if their rulers truly have the citizenry in mind, or are gallivanting out and about for personal excitement and gains.

I've updated the kingdom scores but I'll repost them below. Expect the numbers to go up and down as you accumulate wins and have to "spend" political capital to resolve situations like this. For example you could decide to stop the bleed and just imprison/execute Grigori and take the one-time hit or you could try and persuade him/debate him and turn things around at the risk of him being able to continue to poison the minds of the citizens.

This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:17, Tue 20 Sept 2022.

The inquisitor frowns plainly at the man's continued besmirching, making it clear that it was bad form after such an invitation and after being treated with respect, and when he is finally finished instructs him, "One of our men will see you to the dining hall while we change and freshen up from 'gallivanting,'"--he gestures with both hands generally at his gilded plate armor, caked in dust and swamp algae--"but we'll be with you shortly." He then gets the attention of one of the guards and instructs them to escort the preacher to the hall, provide him with a pitcher of wine to calm him down and loosen him up, and send for a family-style sampling of foods from one of the nicer local taverns.

When he is able to get away from the preacher and join the party, Dominique explains, "I hope you don't mind having the unexpected guest, Baron, but I figured the gracious approach would go over best. We shouldn't have anything to fear from giving this man an honest accounting of our deeds, it may give us a chance to hear the must unfavorable thoughts of the common people, and we can take a good measure of the man in the process. It might be we can play to his honor, his ego, or even his greed to have him change his tune. We could have need for an official herald ... either him or enough others to drown him out and discredit him."

Kael slips away in the crowd. Diplomacy not really being his forte, he doubts he would be of much use convincing the preacher of anything. Instead he goes to search for the (former) bandit Tara. It was high time they made some plans on how to deal with troublemakers like this one in the future.

From the way this guy openly defies us like this, I'd say that just threats alone aren't going to work. He either expects us to play nice and not just throw him in a dungeon, or he has an escape plan if we do try to do so. Or possibly both. Hiring others to spread our propaganda or discredit him is a good idea. For his part, Kael will look into what else can be done to make it more difficult for him to preach, in case reasoning with him doesn't get us anywhere.

In reply to Dominique Telvari (msg # 11):

Borric remained at the edge of the crowd as Dominique pushed his way forward. He heard the exchange between the two in the public forum, albeit informal forum. "I understand the reasoning behind your invitation, Dom. The people are unsettled right now. We need to do better. It isn't enough for us to make sure that we can put food in our stomachs. It falls on me, with the help of you and others, to make sure that the people are fed. And that..." He stopped short as he turned and saw the crowd of people slowly disperse. "There's so much more we need to do. We need to recruit more people, those capable to help with the work of governing."

"Let's invite the Levetons to join our impromptu dinner. Svetlana agreed to serve as Treasurer. I thought she was well suited to the position as she kept her business going during the difficult times. I've given thought for a position for Oleg as well. Perhaps he would have a closer ear to the ground as I thought he would probably know everybody in these parts."

Rivermarch Keep was hardly a keep, at least not at the moment. A lot of work had been done to tear down the Stag Lord's crumbling tower and put up a proper timber & stone main hall. The main hall took almost the entire year to construct as the architects had an eye on future expansion so all effort went into providing a proper place for the court to be convened and guests to be accommodated but that left little time so far in building out the rest of the rooms. The guest house and armory were stand alone buildings and the ruling council themselves were housed in rooms that would likely be servants quarters in a larger castle. Really there wasn't much beyond the grand hall but it was quite the grand hall indeed. Banners hung from the ceiling, trophies were positioned on the wall next to a few pieces of art that had been commissioned or gifted.

The guards snapped to attention as the king and his council entered. Word was sent down to the town for the chefs to prepare a meal and bring it up to the hall. Grigori didn't seem to mind waiting, in fact he seemed to expect it as he pulled out a book of tales and songs from the folds of his robes and took a seat off to the side to let the council get bathed and changed from their time on the road.

---

By the hour's end the feast was ready. A deer had been brought in by local hunters and had been cooked and seasoned and basted so it glimmered with juices by the torchlight. A collection of root vegetables had been roasted and several loaves of bread were piled up dripping with a sweet butter the locals made. Servants set the table and Grigori wasted little time seating himself at the opposite end of the table where the king would be seated. It was actually quite remarkable how his mood had changed. Out in public he was all fire and brimstone, a bundle of indignation and rage but here, in the quiet privacy of the keep, he seemed perfectly pleasant. He thanked the servants and had a grin on his face when he saw the banquet plates piled high with local delicacies.

Unaware of the party's unexpected dinner guest, Elena sent word for her lieutenant Artanix to meet her at the keep.  One of their citizens had been abducted from just outside Rivermarch without anyone noticing, and protecting the people from bandits and wild monsters fell under the new marshal's purview.

With that done, Elena wasted no time in changing out of her mud-caked plate harness and diving into a bath.  Once sufficiently clean and perfumed, she changed into an elegant dinner gown for the evening.  Like the keep itself, the dress would have seemed simple and provincial among the elite of Restov, but was impressive in context.  The hard-nosed frontier folk of the fledgeling barony rarely bothered with such finery.

None of this preparation was due to Grigori's presence, mind you.  In fact, she was so distracted getting ready for dinner that she missed the news of Dominique's encounter with the demagogue entirely.  Despite being dressed for a feast, the paladin was somewhat surprised to find an ACTUAL feast laid out for the small adventuring party and their handful of dinner guests.  "Is that an entire deer?"  She asked, amused. "Between this and the fancy procession through town, I worry we might be getting a little full of ourselves.  We were only gone for like a week!"

Noticing Grigori's presence at the far end of the table, Elena stepped forwards with a smile to introduce herself.  "I don't believe we've met.  I'm Elena, Master-at-Arms."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Wed 21 Sept 2022.

Grigori raised his mug to Elena and gave her a smile.

"Charmed. I am Grigori Barccidarrio, traveler of the lands and orator of some renown."

He seemed completely earnest with the greeting, perfectly content to indulge on the food presented. When Elena had approached Grigori was already chatting pleasantly with Oleg and Svetlana.

"Ah, another famed traveler in our lands!"  Elena replied, amused.  "We recently ran into a gnome named Jubilost Narthropple, supposedly a master mapmaker from far away.  The, ah, great explorer drove his caravan into a river and foundered it, and while we hauled his wagon out to safety, he busied himself by insulting every aspect of our barony he could think of."  Elena laughed,  "Shelyn asks us not to judge strangers harshly, but...by the gods, what an oaf."

"What I mean to say is, it's nice to meet a renowned guest who actually knows his manners!  Though I must admit, I've never heard of you either." She smiled apologetically. "We're not always the best informed, out here in the wilderness.  What lands have you traveled through?  Any interesting news about our neighbors?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:16, Mon 03 Oct 2022.

Arriving at the castle, Dominique retreats to his room with a page in tow to help him remove his heavy armor and send it to be cleaned of the last week's dust and swamp muck. He takes some time to wash up, trim his beard, pray to Abadar for guidance(Another Tears to Wine if this is a new day?) in dealing with this street preacher, and change into his more stately white cassock and golden stole. Finally he makes his way to join the others, but not before seeking out staff to give him news of anything that has developed in town since they had departed--he doesn't want any surprises at dinner to make them look like fools.

Arriving in the hall Dominique makes the rounds to greet the others' guests--Oleg, Svetlana, Artanix, and any others--and make small talk to pass the time, but keeps an ear pointed at Elena and Grigori's conversation. The man's surname garners a brief raise of the inquisitor's eyebrows, but for the moment he keeps his distance to allow the pair to chat naturally.

Grigori smiled as he bit into a roasted rib. Deer was a lean meat but there was still enough juice in it to dribble down his chins.

"I would not expect everyone to have heard of me, at least not yet. A lot of movement going on in the River Kingdoms what with four new lands right on their borders...well three I suppose. Pitax kept one of Brevoy's new expansion from sticking, didn't they. The others though seem to be blossoming just as yours. Drelev to the West, Varnhold to the East and here lies Rivermarch. I'm surprised you didn't name the country after yourself as well. It seems all the rage these days."

He chuckled to himself and reached for a handful of roasted nuts to add to his plate.

Elena raised an eyebrow.  "Kept it from sticking?  That's certainly one way to describe Pitax massacring everyone in the expedition, then dumping their severed heads on the floor in the middle of a diplomatic summit."

She pouted slightly.  "But that hardly counts as news.  And don't think I didn't notice you dodging my question."  Her tone was still light, though the bard's caginess about where he had come from put her a little on edge.

"What brings you to our fledgling colony?"

Grigori sets down  his buttered toast and gives Elena a courteous nod as he gives her his full attention.

"Down to business I see. Fair enough. I am but a simple wandering bard that makes a living telling not tales of fiction but tales of truth!  I dare speak what dare not be spoken and if the townsfolk agree with it and help pay my way then so much the better. Someone needs to advocate for the people and while they may agree with me, they have to live here and that might hold their tongue. But I, a wanderer, can speak what dare not be spoken and help start that conversation. The people are worried, dear paladin, whether you know it or they know it. This land is cursed! I dare say there are a dozen stories in the fabled histories of mighty heroes such as yourselves rising up civilization on these lands only for it to come crumbling down. Plagues, animal stampedes, fell fey assaults, undead rampages. You name the disaster and it has befallen these parts."

Dominique continues to quietly watch the man's conversation with Elena as he eats, but at his last claims the inquisitor joins in to remark, "If our people are paying your way so well as to dress as finely as you do, then we must be doing something right, wouldn't you say? And if they are so worried and these lands are so cursed ... what would you have Baron Borric do? Seek aid from neighbors? Which of them would you trust?" He asks the questions as earnestly as he can manage, but he is certain he's figured the make of the man and really just wants to see if he'll give more away.

22:19, Today: Dominique Telvari rolled 14 using 1d20+13 with rolls of 1.  Sense Motive(w/ Tears to Wine).

v.v

"The fact that the Stolen Lands are dangerous also fails to count as news."  Elena added, still more amused than anything else. "Neither to us, or to any of the colonists that have come to stake their claim.  I certainly hope you didn't come all this way just to tell us that.  The paladin took a sip of her wine as she waited for Grigori to answer Dominique's question.

She had no doubt that the bard was peddling some sort of miracle solution to all the barony's ills.  She was just waiting for him to get to the sales pitch.

Grigori gave a little chuckle.

"What should you do? Leave of course. This land is soaked with the blood and bones of just arrogant people who thought they could bring this land to heel. I'm hoping you're not arrogant fools like those people were though."

He pauses, leaning forward so the firelight flickers over his fat face casting shadows in and out of his double chin.

"You, dear paladin, have put out a clarion call to bring in those that Brevoy and the River Kingdoms have left behind. Come to Rivermarch! Start a new life! Tame the frontier! But the truth is you are leading them to die. Might as well march them straight into the Wouldwound. Tell me, how does your goddess handle putting others at risk for the sake of your pride or your greed or ambition? Last I heard Shelyn isn't the kind of deity that enjoys that sort of thing."

He leans back and casts his gaze over to Dominique.

"You're all dead, you just don't know it yet. But maybe my fine words can keep a few of the poor souls you're leading from following you straight through the gates of hell. Now that is a worthy cause, wouldn't you say?"

His face splits with a giant grin that lifts the fat cheeks of his right up to his dead, cold eyes. For a second there was a sinister look to that smile but then the firelight shifts and he is the same harmless looking bard sitting across from them. He lets loose a loud burp and leans back, patting his ample belly.

"I think all this serious talk is bad for my digestion. Would my gracious hosts be so kind as to extend a night's stay or shall I make my departure to find respite at the local inn?"

"Oh, come on! I thought you said that serious talk was your preferred mode of performance?  I'm sure your stomach can handle just fine."  Elena teased, almost managing to hide how uncomfortable the bard's words had made her feel.  Somewhat more seriously, she leaned forwards and caught Grigori's gaze with her piercing blue eyes.  Her musical voice held the air of a friendly challenge.  "You have most of the leaders of Rivermarch in one room.  This, right now, might be your one chance to make your case, and talk us out of this grave mistake we're making.  And like you said, I wouldn't put the people of this colony at risk if I truly thought the danger outweighed the opportunities."

"So: convince me. What is it about these lands that you think makes it so much harder to live in than, say, Numeria or Pitax?  After all, this is far from the only place that has trouble with trolls.  You wouldn't come all this way, and go to all this risk unless you had something more than a few vague stories."

Maintaining the playful challenge of her eye contact, she moved to refill Grigori's wine glass.  Like most things Elena did, the gambit was not particularly subtle. She wanted to keep him talking, both to gauge how serious the man was in his beliefs, and to get an idea of the arguments he would be subjecting the town's citizens to.  At the same time, she hoped the challenge of talking one of the barony's leaders into giving up would be too much for a man like Grigori to resist.  And for her part, she hadn't been lying.  If the bard could present convincing  proof that the expedition was doomed, Elena would do everything in her power to save the colonists as best as she could.

OOC: We don't have to roleplay the whole conversation, but Elena is hoping to get more of an idea as to what Grigori's deal is, especially concerning his real motivations and how likely he is to sway the citizens into leaving.

Dominique frowns and nods at the bard's accusations and requests before agreeing, "Of course, we can have a room made up for you and revisit this at another time." A room with no windows and a few guards outside the door while the inquisitor discusses with the Baron whether the man ever leaves.

Borric entered the hall. He wore his usual attire when not in his armor. A simple brown jacket over a white shirt. "Please, don't get up." He took his seat at the head of the table. His food had already cooled but he didn't seem to mind. He picked up his drink. "Did you already explain to our guest that we were busy when we heard him in the public square? The boy has been returned to his mother?"

With news that there is a room, Grigori decides to take his leave, graciously bowing out and giving the Rivermarch leaders time to compare notes and discuss their impressions of the traveling bard.

Based on what they observed it seems unlikely that Grigori truly believes anything he says. While he might not be lying, everyone comes to the conclusion that he doesn't give one whit about the safety of the peasantry or the curse of this land. Instead he seems more like a hired gun, a "provocateur for hire" sent in to stir up trouble and disrupt the authority of Rivermarch.

Given this conclusion, although one built more upon feelings than facts, the two questions the leaders would have to figure out is: who hired him and what to do with him.

The first question, who put him up to this, was both broad and narrow. It seems unlikely a private citizen would prop up a bard so it is most likely an agent sent by another nation. Brevoy was an obvious answer. Although they had endorsed Rivermarch if they showed signs of struggle or revolt it might give Brevoy an excuse to come in and retract their autonomy, either setting up new puppets or outright annexing them.

Then there were their neighbors: Drelev to the West and Varnhold to the East. It is possible their fellow adventurers were looking to set the stage for rapid expansion but given what Kael has informed the leadership, both  Varn and Drelev have their own problems. Drelev is facing barbarians to the west and Varn is having issues taming his land including rumors of wild tribes of centaurs so given they haven't even secured the land they have it seems unlikely they would be so eager to sabotage their neighbors just yet.

Mivon wasn't too keen on having a new neighbor but ultimately at the grand ceremony they had come to terms over the agreed upon borders so again while it is possible they are playing a long game, they probably aren't a prime suspect.

Could it be that this supposed ogre/troll nation has struck a deal with the likes of Grigori? While you could call him a troll he seems unlikely to do direct deals with one. Still, the ability to shapeshift is common enough that he might be a pawn of this troll or ogre king without him even knowing.

Finally there are the big neighbors, both of which have issues with Rivermarch. Pitax is a definite possibility given how they decapitated the adventurers sent closest to them and have rejected all attempts at treaties or basic diplomacy. Numeria, while not as aggressive as Pitax,  was very disappointed that there would be no more slave hunting in this region.

As for what to do with him, well that would be another conversation as well.

OOC: We can cut this short here. If you want to speculate or discuss you are welcome to do it either IC here or OOC via chat. If you make a final decision on what to do with Grigori let me know, otherwise he'll continue rabble rousing although Kael has put plans into place to try and limit his ability to sway the masses and he is not being subtle about his presence so you can always call him back at a later date.

If you are done with Grigori (for now) then the next question is: where to next?

Kael rejoined the party to hear how the dinner went. For his part, he has made sure that from now on Grigori faces a more hostile audience. But he is not sure how much good will that have alone, as bards are undoubtedly trained in how to deal with such problems.


I'll try to avoid separating from the party like this in the future. Dominique I think had a good idea on hiring bards of our own to spread our propaganda and/or discredit Grigori. We should go with that.

After the bard left their company for the night, Elena rubbed her temples in frustration and called a nearby guard over to her table.  She ordered a guard to stationed by Grigori's door, and made it clear that while he wasn't a prisoner, he also was not allowed to wander the keep unsupervised.

Then, she quickly gathered everyone present, from the serving staff to Lord Borric himself, and had them describe in writing what they had heard of Grigori's comments about his intentions.  If it became necessary to put the traveling bard on trial, having written records of him declaring his intent to undermine the barony could help sell their actions to the public.

OOC: Yeah, for now I'm fine with just doing some counter-propaganda to keep him from harming us too much.  If Grigori starts becoming an actual threat, I say we put him on trial and banish him.

While  initially Grigori caused a bit of a stir (and a crowd), it seemed that his words were more a novelty rather than a call that hooked into the hearts and minds of Rivermarch. The people who had migrated to help set up the town were generally rugged and headstrong individuals, the kind of people who would leave established kingdoms behind to help homestead wild frontiers so hearing that the land is dangerous and cursed and that the leaders were busy taming the lands instead of ruling the kingdom didn't really land. If anything these were the exact reasons why their citizens had come her in the first place, to get away from hereditary tyrants more able to sit on their thrones and count their gold instead of rolling up their sleeves or donning their armor.

Dominique and Kael worked together to make Grigori's stay as unpleasant as possible. Small children and drunk townsfolk would heckle the bard during the day and at night the local inns and taverns were all booked up with other bards playing songs and spinning tales much more favorable to the rulers of Rivermarch.

Still their actions weren't enough to drive Grigori away and as time went on he started shifting his rhetoric, moving away from the dangers of the fey or cursed lands and focusing more on the dangers to Rivermarch's independence: namely from Pitax, Mivon, or Brevoy. Only time would tell if this new tactic would land among the people...