Connects to: 17.16, 29.14.49 and 41.24.
The Duke of Thring charges a heavy toll on merchants seeking to cross the River of Crystal Waters and the raft trade up and down the river is a jealously-guarded monopoly. As a result, many merchants seeking to avoid paying such annoying costs have sought smugglers to take them across the river.
But the Duke is a cagey man and he has instructed some of his peasants to pose as smugglers and offer to make merchants a pontoon bridge out of fishing boats from one bank of the river to a small island in the middle and then move their boats over to the other side of the island to take them the rest of the way across (they patiently explain that they don’t have enough boats to bridge the entire river at once). However, when the merchants are all on the island in the middle of the river they are abandoned by the “smugglers” and left stranded there until they pay the Duke a heavy fine.
However, the most recent caravan that the Duke played this trick on was a lizardman caravan. However, instead of paying the fine the Duke demanded they have fortified the island, taken up fishing and have become a major nuisance to the raftsmen who ply the river thanks to their vicious amphibious sailbeasts. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the lizardmen are refusing the leave unless the Duke pays them reparations. An attempt to land a force of knights and convince the lizardmen of reason at sword point was repulsed by a pack of fangbeasts which ripped the unfortunate knights into tasty morsels.
The Duke is at his wit’s end thanks to the smell of roasting knight that is even now wafting over his castle but is reluctant to swallow his pride and pay up.
Subhex:
- 17.16.01 (The Bite of the Bogswine): an amphibious beast that is emphatically not poisonous.
Connection:
- The mud around Smuggler’s Isle is especially sought after by the Society of Engineers (29.14.49) as an ingredient in their cement. This is not because it is especially strong but because it has a weak magical resonance that slowly fades with time, allowing the engineers to keep track of how old a certain piece of construction is. This is of especial use to the Department of Obscure Annexes as it allows them to detect suspicious new construction that may hide secret rooms.
Connection:
- The attack on Smuggler’s Isle was lead by Sir Goribald, the former Champion of Thring, which has lead to a large crocodile becoming the current Champion (18.17).
Hooks:
- Who monopolizes the raft trade?
- What other beasts do the lizardmen have? Where do they get them?
- What is the lizardman caravan carrying? Who were they planning to trade with?
- Where does the magical resonance come from?
The Bite of the Bogswine
Hex 17.16.01
Connects to: to be added.
The bogswine is an amphibious pig-like creature with buck teeth and long quills that line its back which contain no poison whatsoever. However those who are pricked by the bogswine’s quills become convinced that they have been poisoned and soon display psychosomatic symptoms. This magical confusion is so powerful than anyone asked to about the antidote will have a different answer. Perhaps they will proscribe profuse bleeding, ogre spittle, huge amounts of hobgoblin shroomwine, complete inundation in a barrel of Thringish brandy, bardic singing to regulate the heart and avoid palpitations or become convinced that the victim’s blood will coagulate into silver before they die.
As a result of this Thringish raftsmen give the bogswine a wide berth, which is just how the creatures like it.
Hooks:
- What sort of pratfalls have resulted from bogswine “poison?”
- It is possible to weaponize the stuff?
