It started with a party. Lady Jamandi Aldori threw a feast in Restov for five adventurers. Tybalt. Gideon. Brinn. Borion. And Silas.
As set down by Linzi Fairwind, chronicler of heroes
The Story So Far
A lot happened, very fast. Then the pages went quiet. Here is all of it, in order, with pictures. Press play and Linzi will read it to you, turning the pages as she goes.
Chapter I · Before the logs begin
How It Started
A feast in Restov, a charter for the Stolen Lands, and a kingdom that needed a name.
Bandits attacked the feast. The five of them handled it. So she handed them a charter: go south, and tame the Stolen Lands.
First stop, Oleg's Trading Post. That's where I came in. I showed up with a lute and a group of travelers, and I never really left.
They met Kressle, the bandit queen, who wanted the Stag Lord's job. Silas shot one of her lieutenants in the middle of the negotiation. Tybalt talked, Gideon calmed everyone down, and I improvised a ballad. It worked. Ballads always work.
Then the kobolds, who were planning to attack us. Someone left a warhorn with a message on it: this is not your fight. So Tybalt didn't fight. He offered their leader, Tartuk, a seat on our council. Gideon sealed it with magic. We call that the Kobold Pact.
Lady Jamandi wrote back: congratulations. Now pick a name.
I suggested five. Rivermarch. Concordia. Whitewood Crossing. Trident's Haven. Verdant Realm.
Tartuk also suggested five. Tartuktopia. The Scaled Empire. Crown of Tartuk. The Great Kobold Dominion. And Tartuk's Eternal Glory.
We went with Rivermarch.
The Stag Lord's hold was dismantled, his men scattered. And at the place where the rivers meet, we put up some tents and called it a capital.
Chapter II · The first year, 4723 AR
Tents, Taxes and Relatives
A tent city at the meeting of three rivers fills up faster than anyone planned.
I'll be honest about that first year. Tents. Crude shacks. And one tenement that leaned to the side.
As Treasurer, I had an idea. Taxes! There were no roads and no guards. A trader tried to burn my tally book. I collected nothing, and unrest went up by one. I counted.
Tartuk gave a speech about it. It ended with: praise be to Tartuk. They all do.
But people kept arriving. Maximus took four nervous volunteers and made them guards. He named them the Initiates of Steel.
Tartuk's kobolds hauled in the first wood and stone.
Then a caravan came over the hill. Dozens of wagons, pulled by giant rats, and somebody shouting: where's Tybalt Rattigan? He had invited his family. They dug in. Literally. That's how we got the Warrens.
And then, green and gold banners on the road. General Brinnard Whitewood, Brinn's grandfather, with his veterans. He told the whole square that Brinn was their king. Brinn's title is Lord Regent. Nobody has told the General.
Chapter III · Calistril to Pharast, 4723 AR
What Happened Here
A heckler, a cursed pendant, a knife in the dark, a fire, two funerals, a festival and a judgment.
Now the hard part. A silver-haired bard named Grigori stood in our market, day after day, telling people their rulers had abandoned them. He was working for Pitax.
The council answered him one at a time. Borion. Me. Gideon. Tybalt. Even Maximus. The guard arrested him in the night.
Then a gnome named Tartuccio, in a purple cloak, who had offered to be our surveyor. A cursed violet pendant turned up in Brinn's chambers. And one night, Tartuccio came to my tent with a dagger.
I was wearing my mother's ring. Shelyn's Embrace. I woke up on an altar, in a shrine of Shelyn, somewhere else entirely. I got better.
Then the barracks burned. Sergeant Caldor Bracken was killed. Grigori vanished. Dark-hulled ships slipped away from the docks.
General Brinnard held the line. Maximus rallied the guard. Tartuk and his druids called the rain. We lost the barracks. We kept the town.
We buried Caldor beneath the great whitewood tree, by torchlight. We buried Rennick, the first of our guard to fall, in the quiet field. His marker reads: he stood first. I sang.
And then, because we are who we are, we threw a party. The first Founding of Rivermarch Festival.
Lady Jamandi came. Lord Maegar Varn came. King Irovetti came too, by airship. Nobody had invited him.
Mirielle and I answered with fireworks. The festival games awarded a crown to a kobold. And the King left that very night. On important business, I'm sure.
Five days later, in the square, Maximus read the charges against Tartuccio. He tried to vanish. Garrek stopped him. And it was done. We do not rule by fear. We rule by law.
For the pedants
The Dated Record
Every session log, by the calendar of 4723 AR. Click through to read the full log.
-
The Brevoyan Question
A letter about the noble houses of Brevoy, and a warning about King Irovetti.
-
The Narlmarches Expedition
Gideon, Maximus and Borion go looking for the Forsaken Aerie. They share a dream of corrupted ley lines.
-
Whispers in the Commons
The silver-haired bard Grigori works the crowd: absent rulers, rich neighbours.
-
A Missive to the Past
An enchanted letter from Kressle is bound for the Stag Lord’s old fort. Someone is living there.
-
Breakfast and Betrayal
A cursed violet pendant turns up in Brinn’s chambers.
-
Whispers in the Warren
Razek and Nyx Rattleclank upgrade Maximus. Razek saws his chest open to fit a storage compartment.
-
The Bard’s Betrayal
Tartuccio stabs Linzi in her tent. Her ring, Shelyn’s Embrace, carries her away to a shrine.
-
The Bloodmarked Council
The council’s side of that night. Borion works out that Linzi is alive.
-
The Burning of Rivermarch
The barracks burn. Caldor Bracken dies. Dark-hulled ships slip away from the docks.
Somebody said “we must secure the city.” Somebody always does.
-
The Alchemist’s Challenge
Maximus and Mirielle Nightshade, Borion’s cousin, wrestle with a tent. She agrees to restore a damaged note.
-
The Funeral of Caldor Bracken
A torchlit procession to the great whitewood tree.
-
The Funeral of Rennick
Maximus buries the first guard recruit. The marker reads “He stood first.”
-
The Fireworks Show
The first Founding Festival. Pitax arrives by airship; Linzi, Mirielle and Sparkfang answer with fireworks.
-
No Rescue, Only Judgment
Maximus reads the charges against Tartuccio in the square. King Irovetti had been in town, uninvited.
-
The Timeskip
Stromhaven grows from tents into a fortified city with ley-line walls and magical lamps. The kingdom is secure.
-
Fort Crowe and the Fogfen
Two days’ ride to Fort Crowe, then south into the Fogfen and the ruins under Gauntlight.
Chapter IV · Three years later
Where We Left Off
The tents became streets. Then the council rode south, into the fog.
And then the pages go quiet. For three years.
The tents became streets. The walls went up. The city learned to stand on its own.
Orena, who came to study our ley lines, runs New Azlanti now. A school, to the west, with actual students. And Kressle, the bandit queen? She runs a town called Fort Crowe. There are children playing in it.
Which is where we left off. Two days' ride to Fort Crowe, then south, into the fog. A ruined lighthouse called the Gauntlight, and the Azlanti Vaults underneath.
The council went in. They met some very rude fey, one extremely large fly, and six kobold ghosts. Brinn is carrying a children's book about a witch named Belcorra. It is not a nice book.
When the fog is creeping, and the moon is low. When the town is sleeping, Gauntlight starts to glow.
That's the last page I have. The council is out there. The city is right here. Walls, lamps, lizards and all. It will keep.
So whenever you're ready to come home I'll have the gate open, and a fresh journal.
Loose ends
Open Threads
Things the chronicle has not explained yet. Tap a card.
The story is on hold. It did not end.
What Comes Next?
The table set Rivermarch down in December 2025 to try other things. The council is still out there, the city is still here, and Linzi has a fresh journal. What happens next is up to the players.
🗺️
Pick Rivermarch back up
Right where the ink dried: in the fog under Gauntlight.
⚔️
Something different in Pathfinder
New characters, new lands, same dice.
🚀
Pivot to Starfinder
The same table, a much bigger sky.
🎭
Keep chasing Masks
Stay in the 1920s with Masks of Nyarlathotep and not worry about it.
“Whenever you’re ready to come home, I’ll have the gate open.” – L.F.