Kill the Rat King

The three of you have been tasked by King Nicolaus of the stonewall province to capture Ezor the rat king, so he can be interrogated and to provide proof in the high court that what you experienced in tunstead actually happened. With the help of a bandit captain Arubar you have discovered a hidden city called Harrowfen run by criminals, for criminals, a safe haven for those outside the law. inside you located Ezor, but with the cities zero tolerance policy on thievery and murder, and the citizens hatred of adventurers, the natural enemy of bandits, just going in and killing him wont be so easy. the sun rises, as you all awake from a nights rest in a camp over redstain river with your newly acquired abusive manticore, and its up to the 3 of you what way your going to go about this.

###### **The Rat King**

will be gathering weapons, Armor, and captives around the area. his goons will be kidnapping people from local farms and isolated properties. 3 days in he will launch his takeover of Harrowfen. he will try and convince the players to help him retrieve his gold and belongings from his lair in tunstead as he believes his goons aren't capable.

1. 27th of Nermia: sending goons out to kidnap victims for transformation

Schedule
 8-10
 10-12
 12- 13
 13-14
 14-15
 15 - 18
 18 - 21
 21 - 6

1. 28th of Nermia: goons will go over state borders to retrieve gold and items from rat kings lair

 8 -12
 12- 13
 13-16
 16 - 18
 18 - 21
 21 - 6

1. 1st of Gaiya: rat king will launch takeover of harrowfen

##### **King Nicolaus**

He will send a courier after them telling them to report back immediately. "Inquisitors from King Cenric have discovered me of Harbouring enemies of their province, you 3, to be specific, and have given me 5 days to hand you all over to avoid immediate trade restrictions being placed between our capitols. I can give you 5 days to apprehend this king of rats before i have no choice but to cooperate with their demands. if we capture him and get a confession we will not have to worry about King Cenrics threats. its been 3 days you've been on the search, what progress have you made?"

"one last thing, the inquisitors from the Jonah province request to speak with you. do not hold any fear of them, they have no power away from their border, but if you feel unsafe i can arrange a meeting under the watch of my men, they will most likely try to arrange a deal with you, and i recommend you do not take it, it will only go against my best interest."

###### **The Ring**

The ring Maltik is wearing is given to high status individuals in Harrowfen or those the king deems deserving of it. it grants access to a secondary entrance to Harrowfen. the entrance in a tunnel nearby to the bridge. the one which has the ring on must put their hand inside of a hollow tree, which will cause the ground above the tunnel to fold away and reveal it. it goes underneath the river and is patrolled by town guards who nod to players. the tunnel leads to a large door, where at the end a guard will examine the one going through through a sliding trapdoor, before letting them through into an abandoned house in the edge of the town.

###### **Negotiation Room**

Within the castle you are lead to a small room, will walls painted blue, a low hanging chandelier and a small table in the centre decorated with a dark blue silk. chairs face each other on opposite sides and thirsthal guards stand in each corner.

the older one speaks up "i thought i requested total privacy from eavesdroppers, leave the room immediately before i have your jobs"

"our meeting cannot continue without privacy" he grins a fake smile, with pearly white teeth

##### **Jonah Province**

is sending inquisitors accusing them of harbouring enemies of their province. they threaten to restrict trade between province capitals. the king puts pressure onto the party to find the rat king in 5 days or he will have no choice but to hand them over.

one of the inquisitors is snobbish older looking man with no hair on his head, while the other sports long hair swept back and a well kept moustache

1. 27th of Nermia: Jonah Inquisitors threaten King Nicolaus
2. on the 2nd day inquisitors from King Cenric will try and track down the players after failed attempts of rat goons to infiltrate the old arena, "Men with the heads of rats have been spotted crossing the border towards Tunstead. We have lost our control on Ezor and reports have come in of what could be him escaping to the north. Our Informers have also reported that you also are trying to locate him, maybe even already have, so id like to arrange an agreement between us. If Ezor was to be captured and interrogated, im sure you can understand the problems it may cause. Im sure you hold an anger towards us, but you must understand that the impact of the news of what happened getting out will not only have an effect on us, but the honest citizens and workers. if Tunstead falls that means thousands of jobs and lives fall down with it, turning the residents to poverty, homelessness, or worse. So our agreement. Find Rezor, and kill him. locate a courier, and mail us his head in a wooden box. Do not speak of what happened, do not speak of what happened today, and in return you will be rewarded handsomely, with a large sum of gold, and the deeds to a large property in any Stye owned state, as well as superior titles to 'adventurers', how does lords sound. 300 gold each, monthly, for your continued silence. sound appealing? we can make it happen.'

"if we had a way of contacting Ezor, we have ways of drawing him out. we lure him somewhere where you can get the jump on him, and you do the rest"

giving locations of a safehaven to hide in untl things blow over and ina few days he will be picked up. meet cenric and he will discuss the plan

###### **Grof**

Grof will be absent from his tower, but will return after a few minutes hauling a carriage of barrels. bottles, candles, and firewood. "dreadfully sorry, i was just popping into town, say dont i know you three?"

"a forest could not naturally flourish over redstain river, i saw the aftermath of the great cataclysm, this is clearly the work of magic. Are you 3 familiar with an Elder Balgor? used to live over in ramshorn before he went off somewhere,"

"This can only be the work of him, no other magic user powerful enough to create such a thing has passed through this area" "how they convinced him to help them in such a way is anybody's guess). Grof can help by manifesting a brief antiorgonal field. he will help as "i once owed a favor to king Towne of Thirsthal, he is long dead but the favor carries over to the current king"

his antiorgonal field causes an expansing shimmer to spread from his staff, the trees rasp a death groan and wither to a leafless, charred form, allowing entry through the forest. the withered trees slowly reveal the two headed giant guarding the passage, as well as the two guards past the forest. they all look at you with surprise and terror. No magical abilities can be used within the field, which extends short of Harrowfen city. no magical items work.

##### **Bandit Migration (1st of Gaiya)**

A high concentration of criminals and high profile wanted individuals have been sighted near redstain river in the Stonewall province. some have evaded capture but a large amount have been apprehended and will be taken to Crulfeld until audience with a judge can be arranged.

* Shaddam Vavath, former head of security of Thirsthal, expelled and charged for unusual cruelty and illegaly modifying weapons
* Sister Luella, former member of the Thirsthal Church of Pagar, wanted under suspicion of thievery of multiple high value magical items.
* Duk Goglunk, 1 of the 2 Goglunk brothers, wanted crime lords guilty of illegal loaning, intimidation, suspected murder, and funding criminals.
* Jackson Laslo, Terrel Muck and Aubert Gero, wanted for the unlicensed distribution of common and rare animal species
* as well as several other names of established and wanted criminals.