The Dauntless IV: Fury Road

Antoinette looks around a few moments to get her bearings. Once she realizes where she is, she begins heading toward the exit. "Thank you, Mengkare."

She continues walking back to Mengkare's lair and greets everyone as she arrives. "Mengkare has seen what I wanted to show him. What he does with that knowledge is up to him, but I dare say it has had at least a little of the intended effect on him. Suki, Dorrak, Django, are we ready to head home?"

Dorrak nods, then realizes the problem with that plan. He looks to Emaliza, Inizra, and Jonivar. "Would any of you be able to help us get home? We used our last method of teleportation to get here."

Emaliza shakes her head. "If there is exactly and only one type of magic you'll find in short supply on Hermea, it's teleportation. We have little need for it. Many wizards here certainly know the spell, but wouldn't have it ready today, myself included."

"Naturally we can arrange accommodations for the evening, though," Inizra interjects. "As far as I'm concerned you all have honorary citizenship, so it won't be a problem."

Antoinette sighs. "I suppose that makes sense. I guess we shall have to wait one more day before heading home. If it's all the same, I think I shall head out of the city and just fly around the uninhabited parts of the island for a while. I could use some time alone to think."

"I'll take you up on that offer, thank you," Dorrak nods gratefully to Inizra.

Suki nods her agreement. "I wouldn't mind a chance to look around the city, now that we're not pressed by duty," She says, pulling out her disguising cap.

As soon as he can, Dorrak goes to Akrivel to just spend some time to Nketiah, and from there they spend a few days in Absalom with his family as well - given that Dorrak had not yet introduced his fiancee to his parents. After taking the time to schedule and invite everyone, which on Dorrak's side are just the party and his parents. They have an Ekujae wedding, and from there they move into a new home in a small town in Varisia named Sandpoint, which shows up more often than a town of its size should in stories from adventurers in the last two decades.

The couple, and Nova, set up a nice home on the edge of town, and a little ways out Dorrak has a proper citadel built, regal and sturdy in appearance, adorned with the holy symbol of Ragathiel, but with room for the addition of more symbols for other faiths from righteous deities that his students follow. Over the years, he and Nova gradually assemble an order of paladins from different faiths to protect and serve the innocent people of the region and beyond, taking work on the basis of the righteousness of the cause, often for free. As with much adventuring work, it funds itself off the spoils of slain foes. The Blades of Valour, as they came to be known, kept themselves small and elite, with Dorrak himself training every student for as long as he lived. He trained them in both martial skills and diplomatic talents, stressing the importance of both, and ensured that every member conducted themselves as an exemplar of honour and dignity, while being patient with mistakes made in good faith.

Despite the rigour of this work, he managed to be a devoted husband, and eventually father, as well, taking trips to explore and adventure with Nketiah, supporting any projects she wanted to take on as well, Together they had three children, all aasimar and mostly human, with some features that betrayed a hint of elfin or orcish heritage. His firstborn, a child with all their mother's charm and all their father's grit, quickly displayed powerful celestial sorcery from a young age, and they named them Kholo. They took more after Nketiah's free spirit than Dorrak's discipline, and when they were of age, with both their parents' blessing, they joined the Pathfinder Society. Their secondborn, who they named Hiruth, after Nketiah's mother, had a singular focus and drive, committing herself fully to anything she chose to do, and she followed in Dorrak's footsteps, being trained by him and Nova as a paladin of Ragathiel and becoming a member of the Blades of Valour. Their third child, Hakdar, had a particular love for his mother's stories from infancy, and he took to singing with her early on as well. He was about eight years younger than Hiruth, and she was fiercely protective of him long after he was old enough to take care of himself. When it came time for him to leave home, he left for Absalom, hoping to join up with travelling musicians there so he could bring new stories and songs of his own back home, visits which his family was always glad to have.

Dorrak and Nova remained inseparable through their whole lives, leading the Blades together, and Nova was the godmother to all of his children, who she adored as though they were her own. And, after Nketiah passed and once their affairs were in order, they remained inseparable, leaving behind children and grandchildren to take their places in Ragathiel's service in Heaven as archons for good. Before leaving, Dorrak leaves Verdict and his armour in the hands of Hiruth, who he had passed leadership of the Blades to, and pays one last visit to Antoinette to give her his holy symbol so that she had a piece to remember him with in her hoard.

As soon as they return to the citadel, Suki set to work. Resurrecting the portal network would be no easy task, but she was determined to see it through. Fortunately for her, she had connections to several of the greatest minds on Golarion, across many different ancestries, to help her do it.

What followed for the half dragon was nearly a decade of travel, rare reagent gathering, research, tinkering, and construction, along with the periodic more typical life event, such as Dorrak's wedding. Despite her best efforts however, Lotusgate remained unlinked, as she never did learn where exactly the gate lead, and attempts to study the remains themselves merely provided interference. Instead, she used the sixth Gateway as an easier access point to the inner workings of the network. At the end of it though, with bated breath, she performs the first opening of one of Alseta's Ring's Gateways since the fall of the Cinderclaw: the fully rebuilt Huntergate. Passing through the newly built waystation, she exited with head raised in joy into the humid Mwangi air and unleashed a mighty shout of excitement.

Some time passed after the reconstruction the Ring, and the half-dragon magesmith grew restless with her comfortable life at the Citadel. She had no students like Dorrak and Antoinette, no Higher Calling like Django, and her Great Task was completed. But she was at a loss. She'd had her Great Destiny, she'd helped kill a God (okay, fine, the manifestation of a God, she'll admit in private), but... She was inspired. She would help others with their Great Destinies, providing the finest goods she could make, and her corner of the Citadel would suffice as a home base. So she packed up supplies, a spare anvil, her disguising hat, and a cloak, and with a brief letter slipped through one of the Gates at random, setting out to be a great Merchant.

It is said that she still wanders to this day, slipping from nation to nation, often passing back through Breachill, especially around the Call For Heroes, hauling a sack of valuable, often magical treasures on her back. It's also said that she'll trade far above equal value for interesting or useful books, as she's still looking to expand her library at the Citadel.

With her task finally finished, Antoinette set about building up her order in earnest. She established more hierarchy, though it was still looser than a normal organization, and hired more teachers and trainers. With her connections she was able to attract a wide variety of talented people to her cause. Recruitment grew quickly, and so too did the need for space. What started as just the citadel quickly began to grow into the citadel plus outlying buildings. Then as the decades wore on it grew even larger and became a small town in its own right. Eventually it grew to absorb Breachill and become something of a city in its own right.

Johanna and Allison were the first of Antoinette's students to undergo the ritual and become dragons. Before the ritual, Antoinette made them swear oaths to Apsu similar to her own, as a means of ensuring divine watchfulness over their actions under the instinct of chromatic dragons. This became standard practice for all students becoming dragons from then on. Allison became a white dragon and returned to her native Irrisen. There she set up the first major branch of the Order of the Silver Scale. Johanna became a green dragon, and though Antoinette could not bear to have her lair too close, she did insist that Johanna set up in the woods somewhere in Isger. After all, Johanna was to serve as the archmage of the order. She needed to be within reach for both consultation and application of rituals.

It was many decades before Fleur and Emily found corrupted metallic dragons to mantle. Emily found a world weary silver dragon who had turned to raiding expeditions into the Sarkoris scar. After taking on its form, she established another branch of the order in Ravounel. Brian remained her faithful friend for the rest of his life and took to training new students in the Ravounel location. Fleur ended up slaying a copper dragon that had taken its hedonism too far and developed a taste for the flesh of men. Though she remained loyal and a better person for her time with Antoinette, she had no inclination to lead a section of the order. Luthais eventually succeeded in becoming a blue dragon through alchemical means. He returned to the 5 kings mountains to find seclusion for his alchemical studies.

As time passed, few students rose to become dragons as well. Those that did, however, came to be part of a sort of council that led the order. Most branches of the order were personally led by an ascended dragon. Once a year the council met at the citadel to make decisions on the future of the order, as well as deal with any outstanding issues.

Antoinette never forgot the oath she swore to Apsu. In between training students and planning her order's future, she made at least yearly excursion to personally hunt and slay evil dragons. She often brought advanced members of the order on these expeditions. Soon enough, her order came to be renowned not only as adventurers, but as powerful dragon slayers. With each dragon slain Antoinette's hoard grew ever larger. As she came to know more and more young adventurers, the memories within it grew even more precious. Never more precious to her in the growing pile was the few mementos of her adventures with Suki, Dorrak, and Django. They were always displayed prominently, apart from everything else in the hoard. When asked for stories, it was always the first place she looked.

Ripples Across the World

Isger: Breachill grows into a thriving city of adventurers to rival Korvosa or Magnimar, while the Order of the Silver Scales (referred to by most as "The Order") becomes an adventuring guild on par with the Pathfinder Society, and becomes approached significantly more for help, where the Pathfinders are more secured in their niche as archaeologists and are approached for expeditions. The two groups butt heads sometimes, but also often end up partnering. Once Alseta's Ring is repaired-almost rebuilt from scratch, really-it also becomes a major hub of trade, connecting central Avistan,

The Mwangi Expanse: With their ancient charge fulfilled, the Leopard clan turns their attention from Huntergate outwards. After many years of their best warriors traversing the Mwangi Expanse, fighting primarily the Dahak cults that still permeate the jungles of their homeland, they eventually formed an official alliance with the Matanji orcs, pushed by Jahsi who saw his daughter's marriage to a half-orc paladin as a sign of the bonds that could be made between elf and orc. As a result of this, both the Ekujae clans and the Matanji nation of Nine Walls eventually, within thirty years, boasts the a truly unprecedented number of elf-orc hybrids (termed Sotanji and welcomed as siblings by the Watanji half-orcs) on Golarion.

Ravounel: Kintargo remains largely unchanged by the actions of the Dauntless and the events surrounding them. This is, in large part, due to the Bellflowers and the Lacunafex keeping the Scarlet Triad's presence in their city a secret told only to the Silver Council, so as not to cause a panic. Outside of Kintargo, though, the town of Cypress Point grows from a small fishing village into a major port city over the years as it is now a much faster shipping hub between the Arcadian and Obari Oceans than the Inner Sea.

The Five Kings Mountains: It isn't a fast process, nor is it pretty, but in 4805 AR, Queen Parjil Longbraid claims the crown of Saggorak, and with it, the city is reclaimed and the Pious Kingdom of Saggorak is reborn. From there, she sets her sights outwards on the other domains of the Five Kings Mountains, and by 4987, a scant five years before her death, she reunites them under the empire of Tar Parthraan.

Katapesh: The Pactmasters maintain total control of Katapesh, as they have for centuries and as they will for centuries more. However, the events of the Scarlet Triad's abrupt and total downfall, treason and ruination left their mark. Slavery remains legal, but enslaving citizens is made illegal throughout the nation. In addition, Satla Kivarn and Exavisu Kerndallion unite to champion stronger regulation on the slave trade and slave rights, a matter to which the Pactmasters begrudgingly aquiesce when the movement catches on amongst the commonfolk.

Hermea: The people of Hermea well and truly do not know what to do with freedom, but they give it their best. Promise remains a beacon of arts, sciences, sports, magic, and martial technique, and even without a dragon personally overseeing the breeding of each and every citizen the nation's genes are more than good enough that every Hermean child born for several generations on is exceedingly intelligent, talented, and unfairly attractive. Emaliza Saris is elected First Citizen for Life, and rules over a populace that by and large is content to be ruled with a firm hand, one that is in many ways less firm than its predecessor and in many ways more. This is exacerbated by the fact that First Citizen Saris is an extraordinarily powerful wizard, and like many before her becomes immortal. However, Hermea's populace are as happy and well managed as ever.

The Darklands: Though the Dauntless never visited the Darklands proper, their actions still hold consequence. It isn't until nearly ten years after the destruction of Dahak's manifestation that Antoinette first hears the rumors, rumors that she soon learns to be true: a sauriothropic plague that has spread throughout the Darklands for many years. Inquiries find that the curse began shortly after the adventure in Saggorak, and then Antoinette remembers the duergar that got away, the one who she bit and assumed would be eaten by undead. Interestingly enough, this plague seems a peculiar mirror of what most therianthropy is on the surface: evil and terrifying civilizations hiding away on the nights of the full moon (not that they know it's the full moon, only that it occurs every 29 days like clockwork) from the terrifying monsters prowling the streets, looking for the decidedly wicked to snack on. It maintains roughly the same level of prevalence as on the surface, unlikely to overwhelm but impossible to stamp out, and packs of weredinosaurs band together, learning to embrace their urges to do good and hunt evil.