Book 1: To Assume Control in Narport

The four of you appear at the audience chamber of the Dean of the Reapers, Shanword Hill. The Dean is an impressive man, a gray-haired human dressed in his clerical robes. You know that no one could rise to the head of the Reapers without a great deal of skills, and Shanword is legendary amongst the organization for his many exploits in his younger years while climbing the ranks.

The past five years, however, he has served as the Dean of the Reapers, a mostly administrative position- though there are rumors that he may be in line to be promoted to Primate should he still live when Hapi calls the current head of her church back to her in death.

As you approach, Dean Hill looks up from a stack of papers that he is going over- they appear to be assignment documents.

"Greetings, junior Reapers. I know that it is not customary for the Dean himself to call on those of your rank to direct you personally, but I have a special assignment, and your superiors in the organization have flagged the four of you as having skills that will complement each other and be up to the task at hand.

That task, I'm afraid, it not some simple reaping to be done- would that I could just send you off to face down a necromancer and his horde of scum undead." at this, the Dean makes the sign of the Reaping, a quick motion that sweeps from one shoulder to his waist opposite which is common amongst the followers of Hapi "No, I'm afraid that I am sending you into territory that is currently a little bit. . . uncharted. High Reaper Dominity has been called back to the Goddess of late, and since then there has been no word out of Narport, despite there being a church presence there. I need you to go, assume control of the city, make sense of what Dominity has left behind, and clear the territory of any and all those that should be brought back into compliance. Any questions?"

"What troubles lie ahead? Would that I could tell you, but I am a Dean in the Church of Hapi, not our God's beloved brother Pacifa-- a priest of death not prophecy, but if I were to hazard a guess I would say the usual type for Reaper's work- necromancers raising undead, wizards cheating death, other deities priesthoods resurrecting the dead and none of them wanting to pay as is only proper. Beyond that? Assuredly a deluge of overdue paperwork. Of that I can guarantee you."

"Our records on Narport are woefully incomplete. A Priest was sent there several years ago, and by last reports he has several locally trained acolytes- Priest Jonias was his name, but that is near all I can tell you about him."

"If there are no questions, I'd suggest you prepare yourselves- you can stay in the guest chambers here tonight and dine at my table, then you will have a journey of some weeks on your way to Narport."

"Nobody knows the whole story, though we are assuming that it must have been old age. For a human to live to over a hundred and sixty years is unusual to say the least, but the Church records are quite clear on when Dominity joined the Reaper's and he had been a full Priest for for over fifty years when he assumed control in Narport which was a hundred years ago. Even had he begun as an acolyte at ten or eleven as some do, well, needless to say our great Goddess had been quite generous with the High Reaper already."

The Old Empire Seat, while no longer the greatest city in the world, is still an ancient city of breathtaking beauty. Teeming with people, the city has the smell of most cities about it, but also has more great temples, cathedrals, and other grand public works than any other city in Kesperex, save perhaps the fabled Imperial Capital in the Eastern Plateau Lands.

The sense of history pervades the Empire seat- it was here in the second age that the Trinate War Gods Attrianna, Drexiesh, and Jarrett paraded the head of the dragon god whose name is never to be spoken through the streets and ushered in the end of the reign of dragons and their servants the kobolds.

The Empire Seat was old already then, steeped already in the history of a thousand years before Riverport, Narport, and the other cities of the Fertile North had even been founded, when the fae still ruled the vast uninterrupted forests that still dominated much of the regions North of the ancient wall.

Finding a public house to take a glass of ale or wine was simple enough, though choosing which one provided perhaps some difficulty- for any number can be found, catering to all tastes and income levels from dive bars full of sweaty peasants and slaves to effete wine bars where a single glass could buy and sell those peasants and slaves a dozen times over.

After spending some time in the tavern getting to know one another, you return to dine with the Dean. His table is well set, offering scrumptious food and drink in an ordered manner-- seven course served each of them promptly by his liveried servants. It is clear that whatever his reputation, the Dean values orderliness above all.

The following morning you depart, and travelling with a caravan as far as the south western fork of the great river, board the charted river vessel the Church has provided. From there your journey is restful, if bumpy to those unaccustomed to water travel. The boat travels up the river, through the great confluence in Riverport, and on to Narport where you depart to find yourselves in a city you've never visited before but where you now exercise authority within the matters of the Church and the Reapers' purview.

You find yourselves disembarked in a busy dock where goods and passengers are being loaded and unloaded.