The River King Part 1

## Episode 53 - The FeyWild West

With Talia’s first task completed, the Broker appears in the Evermarsh. For his second head, he wants Talia to defeat the River King, another feylord. Although this might not mean killing him. The River King’s territory is winterward and attached to the Evermarsh. The water from the Evermarsh feeds into the Great Serpent, a river that passes through the River King’s domain. The River King’s thing is games, particularly games of wit, of chance and prowess. Seline attempts to renegotiate Talia’s not being able to leave the feywild, to no avail. Seline returns to the mansion with James to check on the children and to rest. Talden is there with Adrienne and they say it's been three days last time they were there. Seline surprises Talden with what they harvested from the blue dragon in the portable hole. After Talden gets over the shock of seeing blue dragon parts in the portable hole they agree to show Ernest. James decides to go rest in his room in the guest house. Adrienne now has a stack of records for her headphones. Seline grabs Zachariah’s skull. She hopes having it with her will bring her good luck and if not, she will have it with her. Harmon takes the watch because all he needs to rest is to sit still. Talia immediately goes to sleep in her bedroll. Seline watches Talia for a little bit before also falling asleep. Seline dreams about walking through a grand castle made of night-black stone. She's walking through halls; giving orders to servants; and hosting balls, parties, and feasts. When she sees herself in the mirror, she's in a dress of night and starlight, with raven black hair. Although it is Seline's face in the mirror, the personality behind it makes expressions that she doesn't recognize. Fortunately, Seline only vaguely remembers these dreams when she wakes up. They leave the marsh quicker than expected. When Seline looked around from the air before, the marsh seemed to go on forever. Now they're in a grassy hill area with a large river to the right. The mouth of the river is a mile wide and narrows only slightly as it moves inward. Talia uses the first setting for the boat they got from the Venassi Lair. Harmon volunteers to pilot the boat. A little way down the river things start jumping in and out of the water. They are humanoid-shaped with blue and green faces and one waves at Talia before diving below the surface. It might be a kelpie.

> A hump in the water starts coming alongside you guys... It continues to rise up until it suddenly breaks and the mast of a ship starts to rise above the water with sails and more masts and they keep going up and up and eventually the masts they aren't just masts they are buildings and there is dozens of them. All made of water warped wood and sea glass. As it continues to rise up and up until finally the deck of a ship rises above the water and even that continues to rise above until a 20-story hull of a ship rises above you, water just pouring off of of the side. Your boat flounders in the wake of this thing.
>
> DM Molly

More of the Bluegreen humanoids are on the ship watching with some who are deathly white. Several jump down and surround the boat standing on the water wearing armor that's made out of seaweed and shellfish that has been hardened into similar to leather. They challenge Talia asking what her business is on the Great Serpent. They laugh when she responds that she's looking for the River King. They explained that their ship is the Waterborne Palace that is the home and fortress of the River King. They laugh again when Talia says she's here at the behest of the Broker. The soldiers say that the River King will explain why they're laughing when they get to him and begin escorting them to the River King. Seline's cards say, two of swords inverted (a decision and the difficulty of making one and neither decision is a good one). They climb a waterlogged rope ladder to the deck where they see that the city of the River King is paved with mother-of-pearl. They're met by six more guards whose armor is plated in mother-of-pearl as their escort continues. They enter a tower taller than all the other building masts made of pearl. They climb the stairs to the top of the tower where there is a dome made of green and blue sea glass. Sitting on a throne made of coral is the River King. The River King has long turquoise and purple hair that is constantly shifting and moving in as if underwater. His skin is pale, and has an almost drowned corpse kind of look. There is a lively merry look in his eyes. His crown is made of sea glass and robes that look like falling waves. His Rippling Majesty, Ulorian the River King, also bears the titles Defender of the Pearl Tower and Master of the Arbonesse.

    The River King knows of Seline as the Mistress of the Silken Weave but refers to Talia as the Iron Fiend. When Talia corrects her title as the Reaper, the River King adjusts it to Iron Reaper. The River King already knows of Talia’s task and explains that it is three challenges, one of knowledge, speed, and prowess. However, the River King warns her then no one has bested him beyond the challenge of knowledge, and should she lose, Talia and her companions will join his courtiers. All the courtiers have the same drowned look and their feet are manacled for the floor. All of them have a sunken dead look in their eyes. Talia reluctantly agrees and the first challenge immediately starts. The River King asks Talia the name of the Hag of the Evermarsh. Without skipping a beat, Talia responds Baba Yaga to dead silence. Upset and shocked Talia knew the answer, the River King has guards escort them to quarters to prepare for the challenge of speed tomorrow. They are led to chambers five floors below. The beds all are massive king-size waterbeds with bed frames made from the bones of sea serpents and whales. They reason out the Broker’s first head was necessary to pass this challenge but question what the River King has that they might need for the next challenge. The challenge of speed is a race. As they're trying to figure out how to face the next challenge, Seline responds in disbelief to the tarot cards she pulls (King of Swords inverted: somebody in power who is manipulative). In response to what about him the cards say the magician inverted (someone who is out of touch and is acting foolishly) and the wheel of fortune inverted, (bad luck). Seline goes into the mansion to check on the children only to find Ernest, Talden, and Jareth waiting for her. Ernest bombards Seline with questions about the dragon. Seline says that artists can study what they brought. Jareth says that Getsu started rumors while Jareth was gone that he got eaten. Seline laughs at the ridiculousness of this rumor. Jareth explains that he wants to be friends with Getsu because Getsu is so popular. Seline encourages Jareth to be more confident and be himself and people start to notice. Seline finds Adrienne illustrating *Rage of the Wolf* with crayons. In her shrine, Seline asked the Undertaker with divination what they need to complete their task. The bone turns to dust and spells out Harmon, the sword, and the mantle of Lord Longfellow. Talia summons Death’s Whisper and asks him if he can be other weapons like a sword. The dual guns of Death’s Whisper turn into smoke and reform as a rapier. The handguard is a large basket handguard that is a skull. It has a large straight blade that looks to be steel that is woven with pearlescent material. As Talia moves it around, the pearlescent pattern mists and trails behind the sword as she moves it around. Although still not sure why she needs the sword, she hands it to James and tells him and Talia to practice. James scores a slash across Talia’s cheek. Death’s Whisper guides Talia’s hand in response to her intent as she slashes through the Crystal Sword breaking it to score a slash on James’ arm. Sparring continues on in earnest with Seline shouting encouragement. Exchanging a few blows, James tosses the Crystal Sword to Seline. Of its own volition, Seline's arm snatches the sword from the air and brings it into a guard position. Seline quickly protests that she doesn't know how to use a sword. Although she swiftly sidestepped Talia’s first two attacks. She attacked expertly several more times all the while protesting that she has no idea how to use a sword. Lord Longfellow mantle grants Seline dueling expertise one-on-one, doubled proficiency on attack rolls made with a rapier in a dueling situation. The Crystal Sword is a +3 weapon and a d4 added to damage. As Seline is holding the sword in her hand, it feels familiar like she's held it for thousands of duels. James summons his pact weapon as a cutlass and spars with Seline until Seline beats him. Additionally while they were dueling, Seline notices as they are crossing swords, her sword doesn't break in her hand.

## Characters

### Players

* Seline Argent-Grey
* Talia Argent-Grey

### NPCs

* Jareth Argent-Grey
* Adrienne Argent-Grey
* Harmon
* Captain James Wilde
* The River King
* The Broker
* Ernest Felson
* Talden