A list of the games and competitions being played at the Maelstrom Spring Equinox Festival.

• Arm Wrestling (Test your strength against Maelstrom’s strongest)
• Long Throw Contest (2 levels – Javelin and Boulder Toss)
• Archery Competition (Various distance and accuracy based competitions)
• Town Races (Cross the Square – Running, Race of the Stag – Running & Acrobatics & The Lord’s Race – Running, Acrobatics & Swimming)
• Armed Combat Tourneys
• Field List (Mass melee tourney)
• Jousting
• Crazy Ernie’s Bear Wrasslin’ (Pick one of 4 friendly bears to have a tussle with)
• The Tree Game (Various goodies threaded through a tree – ranged weapons to win them)
• Dragon’s Gold (A Dragon hoards some treasures in the town center – are you quick enough to get some)
• Troll Bridge (A “troll” guards a bridge (tables) and you must get across without being knocked into the river)
• Stag Lord’s Tower (Knock down The Stag Lord’s tower but don’t get hit by return fire)
• Temperature Climbing – Climb the 30’ ladder as a Heat Metal and Chill Metal randomly appear on the rungs.
• Tripstep’s Ladder (Climb the ladder where the rungs can fall out at anytime)
• Various Drinking, Gambling and Treasure Hunt games as well.

The Vernal Equinox is soon here and all are invited to participate in the annual Lord’s festival.

Held in and around the city, this year’s festival will grow to include tests of skill and bravery. Archery, jousting, fishing, wrestling and swordplay will be on display as well as treasure hunts and other assorted children games.

We are also expanding the horticulture and agriculture competitions and there seems to be some strong competition in the baking field this year as well.

Food and drink will once again be free and enough has been organised to fill even the largest belly.

Festivities begin at High Sun and will last throughout the night.

Lady Hilde von Volfheim, Seneschal of Penterius
acting on authority of the High Lords of Penterius.

To the Esteemed Leaders of the new Nation of Penterius.

Greetings from His Supreme and Inimitable Magnificence, Castruccio Irovetti, by the grace of the gods the rightful King of Pitax, Marvel of Numeria, Master of Mormouth, and Prince-Regent of the Sellen.

News has reached me of five strong people who have managed to tame the dangerous Stolen Lands and founded a new nation and I give my heartfelt congratulations and respect.

I can only imagine what constant threats your fledgling nation must endure, the natural creatures of the land are dangerous enough without the presence of the Margreve. But I am sure you are aware that the most dangerous threats to a nation are lies, subterfuge and mis-information.

It is in this last regard that I respond to your letter to me. I feel saddened and angered that some petty powerplay from either within your own nation or a jealous neighbour would seek to cast me as a threat to your Kingdom. Many within the River Kingdoms envy my Country, a place of unriveled culture, freedom and tolerance and plot constantly to claim her as she is the crowning jewel of all the lands. Do not fall for their lies and tricks, I am a friend to your nation and hope to have further relations with your growing country.

I am glad you have taken care of the poisonous snake that spewed lies and claimed to work for myself and I will use all my resources to make sure the offending country pays for their insolence.

-King Castruccio Irovetti of Pitax

Wisps of bluish smoke drifted up from his old pipe as Akiros surveyed the quickly darkening western horizon from his now regular seat on an old oak stump. Situated on the side of a small hill that dropped away into the new town, Drakaen Bellmirovan, this spot had become his favourite refuge from his newly appointed duties as the people’s representative.

Almost a year had passed since the new Kingdom of Penterium was founded and only slightly longer from when the land’s rulers had assaulted the fort of the Stag Lord, Bandit King of the Greenbelt and Akiros’ boss. He had been spared for he had turned on his liege for he could no longer justify his life with the bandits, it had been one mistake after another since he was stripped of Paladin status all those years ago.

Drawing another puff on his pipe he set his eyes again on the distant great forest known as the Narlmarches. Despite being more than a dozen miles away, the forest always seemed loom over the Kamelands, threatening to swallow the burgeoning country before it could take hold. Even the Stag Lord had been wary of the forest, it was ancient and almost seemed antagonistic to any who entered it’s green depths. He sometimes hated looking at it for it seemed to draw him in and he often had the sensation of it swallowing him but he could not resist it’s dark beauty.

“It will come for us one day you know”. Akiros did not turn to acknowledge his new guest. He had not heard the woman’s approach but sensed her presence a few mere seconds before she spoke.
“Maybe, but I would not be concerned about the forest Kressle, I honestly believe your end will come much quicker than that. After all, there is a pool going for who will kill you first, Seneschal Hilde or Marshal Cael’lan”. Akiros paused to take another drag on his pipe. Like most of the town, he had little love for the public executioner. She had once run with the Bandit King as well but unlike Akiros, she revelled in the murdering and stealing. Only the compassion of the Paladin and now Magister had kept her from meeting her end. Pushing away some early greying hair from his face he tilted his head to look at her “My money is on the Marshal, elves have long memories and she seems to keep a special hatred for you”.

Standing a few metres away, Kressle silently observed the seated man. He was handsom despite his greying shoulder length hair and only a vertical scar marred (or improved) his rugged face. She had only recently found out he was once a Paladin and it infuriated her that he could still judge her so harshly despite being involved with the same murderous group she had. Everyone had seemed to forget his part in harrying and destroying all those who opposed the Stag Lord in the Greenbelt, they welcomed him with opened arms and placed great trust in him.

Feeling Kressle’s eyes boring into him, Akiros turned again to look at her. Dressed in her usual leathers with two gleaming hand axes at her hips, Kressle was far from what most called feminine. She was lean and wiry with surprising strength and she kept her choppy brown hair under a leather bandana. Still, she had a certain presence, usually intimidating which suited her role with the peasants but it was apparently enough for his liege, Garnavan who had pardoned her of her past crimes. It was also no secret that she had quite the crush on the Paladin and despite her still questionable ways, always followed any orders he gave her to the letter.

Akiros shuffled over on the stump and held his pipe out for the woman. Taken slightly back by the gesture, Kressle took the pipe and cautiously sat beside councillor. Stretching her long legs, she took a pull on the foul tasting pipeweed. Minutes passed as the two sat silently watching the now black outline of the Narlmarches, both feeling unfounded apprehension as it appeared the forest closed in on them.

“I don’t know what fate awaits us but yes, I sense that something, someone in the forest seeks to see our new home turned to dust”. Akiros’ voice was quiet as if not to be overheard by imagined threats. “Even the Stag Lord was afraid of it and he was a brutish drunk who cared little for even his own life. You were based in the edge of woods, did you ever had any…. problems”?

Pulling a small flask from her belt, Kressle took a mouthful of liquor that had been made by the town’s alchemist, a crazy hermit called Bokken. It was rough but potent and as it burned her throat she offered it to her companion you took it without a word. “Sometimes…”her words trailed off as she tried to find the right words. “Sometimes you felt as if something was beside you, watching you, it’s voice rustling in the leaves, taunting, threatening. Sometimes I would awake in the night to feel a weight on my chest and what felt like sharp wooden fingers around my neck. It would be gone in a flash and you always were unsure it was just the mind waking from a vivid dream or nightmare. I hate that forest and would like nothing more to see it logged and burned back into desiccated plains”. The quiver in her voice surprised Akiros, Kressle was not one to show fear but it only served to heightened his own fears.

A bright waxing moon shone down on the two as they sat for another hour in silence, both lost in their own thoughts and emptying the flask. Finally, without a word, Kressle stood and placed her hand on the fallen Paladin’s shoulder. She left it there for but a moment before patting it and walking back down the hill towards the town leaving a somewhat surprised Akiros looking at her back until darkness hid her from view.

Suddenly smiling, he re-packed his pipe and lit it up again. Perhaps there was hope for this town, it provided a new start for everyone who had the strength to reach out and take it, forces of nature be damned. Still, he was not going to change his bet, he had good gold on Cael’lan.

Erastus 24th, 4711 A.R.

The first light of dawn streams through the shutters of my small home, the temperature already climbing as another hot summer day breaks over Golarion’s newest nation, Penterius.

It has been exactly one year since the official founding of the town, Drakael Bellmirovan, named after the five heroes who drove the bandit king from the Greenbelt. In one year, a long abandoned land has been settled by over 1200 hardy souls looking for a new start.

Even now as I put pen to parchment I can hear the town already bustling with activity preparing for today’s founding festival. The first few years of any Kingdom can be tough but the people are in high spirits and solid progress has been made at taming the surrounding lands. The assistance of the enigmatic treeless dryad, Lena, has been a great boon to the kingdom’s farmlands and while the town has yet to build a castle, the people’s stomachs are full and they are happy.

However, the people are still very aware that they are in a remote and still dangerous part of the world. Rumours run constantly of strange creatures in the imposing Narlmarches, a trackless and monstrous forest that creates a natural western border. More rumours speak of trolls to the south and even stranger creatures that stalk the edges of the Tuskwater. Despite their fears, they are confident in their leaders to keep them safe.

Of the founding rulers, they have settled on a council style of rulership with each holding an additional prominent position.

General Drakov, the half-orc warrior is greatly admired for his skill and strength. While a man of few words, I have seen him show considerable kindness and a willingness to lend his brawn in assisting the building of the town. As of this time, Penterius has no standing army for him to train but he began teaching all able bodied men and women the basics so at least a militia can be pulled together in an emergency.

Magister Garnavan, Paladin of Iomadae is greatly admired in Drakael Bellmirovan for his looks and personal magnetism but also his sense of fairness and lack of rigidness that his common to his order. I believe that he has come from a rustic background that has allowed him to bond with the common folk and he has been seen standing side by side with the people as they build their houses and shops. I also suspect he is a bit of a ladies man and more than a few of the local girls have him in their sights for future marriage (or just a tryst).

Lore-master Bellis, the halfling sorceress knows and is friends with practically everyone in town. Her eternally cheery demeanour and offbeat ways have allowed her achieve what very few sorcerers have done, gain not only social acceptance but actual community warmth. The children love her, shop keepers and housemothers give her food as she goes by and even the most cantankerous elder cannot resist smiling when she tells one of her stories. With time, hopefully many apprentices will arrive for I believe she would be a wonderful teacher.

Spy-master Miro, the halfing …hmm scout is largely misunderstood by the people. Like Bellis, he knows practically everyone in the town and is generally well liked by the populace. His diminutive stature and innocent appearance also bag him many free goods from mothers who think he is adorable. What confuses people though is that he sometimes just appears, almost out of nowhere. Folk will be just chatting or complaining about something believing they are alone only to get up and see Miro sitting nearby seeming oblivious to them and like he was always there. Looking up, he will flash them a smile and wander on his way leaving them confused but generally it is quickly laughed off as what harm can it do, after all, he is just a friendly little halfling.

Lastly there is Marshall Cael’lan, the elven ranger and long time friend of mine. Of the five, she has been seen the least in Drakael Bellmirovan over the last year. Her duties have taken her to the borders of the country as she keeps tabs on both hostile incursions from without and on the farmers who have settled the rolling grasslands of the Kamelands. Few of her other companions understand her yet, none of them have lived for even a quarter of what she has and have taken her sometimes brash demeanour as snobbishness. They don’t know the feelings of constantly seeing companions and friends age and become frail or die. In the wilderness Cael’lan is surrounded by things that are far older than she and I think that is the balance she needs to help deal with the humans flowing into her new country. She has the respect of the farmers and I believe in time she will even be received with warmth by the populace as a whole. My only regret has been cold nights I have spent alone while she has been on patrol and not by my side.

Other positions have been filled by those selected by the rulers and so far have done an amicable job over the last year. I will go into detail about them at a future date though I will make special mention of one in particular, Lady Hilde, Seneschal of Penteria.

Over the years I have met many people but few have impressed me like Lady Hilde. Born into the von Krome noble house of Restov and a skilled Cavalier and diplomat. Once in the employ of the Swordlords, the Lady Knight has earned the respect of the rulers who have entrusted her to rule their land while they are away trying to secure and expand its borders. Also a follower of Iomadae, Goddess of honour, bravery and justice, I have bore witness to her displaying all these virtues. One expects many things of a Knight but humbleness, kindness and a willing to role one’s sleaves up and muck in with the general populace is not generally any of them. She has won the people’s hearts and has also shown some surprising skill with both needle and a smithy hammer. I cannot see a woman like that unmarried for long but I think she is holding out for something that may never come.

I believe I have just spotted Cael’lan ride past, returning for the festival and I am to believe, to head out once again with her companions into the Stolen Lands. I shall take my leave and I hope my accompanying journals and maps find you in good health old friend.

Yours Truly,
Calathes
Pathfinder Field-Operative