[Game Thread] Book 1: The Rat-King of Kinsale

[Atalla Wanderer]

Book I: The Rat King of Kinsale
Act I: A Royal Meeting

Kinsale was neither a bastion of martial power nor a thriving center of commerce. Located along the edge of a deep jungle in the south, it sat upon cliffs that towered above the water. Despite this maritime setback the city managed to find itself on the shores of a deep green lagoon, and the citizens plied those glassy waters on wooden rafts, but only far enough from the shore to fish. A great monster was said to lurk in the depths of the lagoon, part-time guardian of the city, part-time aggressor, and full-time reptilian. Even if the folks of Kinsale discounted the legendary creature, there was plenty of mundane threats lurking to concern oneself with. But it wasn't the waters of the region that were of concern at the moment. Though the jungle was barely held back beyond the edge of the city, it usually was relatively peaceful. Kinsale made it's living off the creatures within, reptilian and magical. For one thing, there was no better magical mounting academy in all of the south, and Kinsale regularly hosted many different nations' troops under a banner of peace in order to train them in their cavalry of choice. Battles, and death, would come later - after the visitors left Kinsale's territory, usually.

Magic abounds in the deep places of the world, so it isn't hard to believe that magical troubles of one sort or another would crop up in Kinsale. The mystery here is who has kicked off the coup against the royalty of Kinsale, forcing the King to call for any available bards, those who have weaponized the ancient magic of song and tune, to come to his aid. Even more surprising is of how few bards that have departed for the jungle city of forty thousand have actually arrived - none, as of yet. What exactly is happening to the song-masters around this city? How is King involved? Why - and this is most important - why does our heroes, their names not yet known, survive the journey? Are they simply missed, their bardic roots short, their names unknown upon the continent of Connachta? At the moment, the heroes are met with a more pressing issue - convincing the numerous bureaucrats of Kinsale that they are, in fact, bards, and they have what it takes to undertake the pressing and profitable mission before them.