====== The River Road to Ruined Villages ======

===== Party =====

  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:fireetta-fjordmist|Fireetta Fjordmist]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:luna-winterscale|Luna Winterscale]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:mechakirby|MechaKirby]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:risar-stormborn|Risar Stormborn]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:roseanne-stonebloom|Roseanne Stonebloom]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:shenanigan-swift|Shenanigan Swift]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:steve|Steve]]
  * [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:vivi-dawnlight|Vivi Dawnlight]]

Several months after [[campaigns:latitude_history:adventures:fires-at-the-fjordgate|Fires at the Fjordgate]], the river inland still led through grief. [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:jarl-hoffer-magnuson|Jarl Hoffer Magnuson]], former [[culture:jarl|jarl]] of [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:thydal|Þýdal]], lent a small longship to a party willing to travel upriver and learn what remained of the villages the horde had damaged. The route would pass [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:selbu|Selbu]], [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:mebonden|Mebonden]], and eventually [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:thydal|Þýdal]] itself.

The journey did not reach its final goal. [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:selbu|Selbu]] was already known to be burned and looted, but [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:mebonden|Mebonden]] still had standing structures, and goblins held part of the village. There, the party fought through the occupation. [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:mechakirby|MechaKirby]] killed the last goblin with a fire Chromatic Orb and set a longhouse burning in the same blast. [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:shenanigan-swift|Shenanigan Swift]] had reached the rafters after parkouring onto the roof and tearing through the thatch, turning the fight into a rescue as well as a cleanup.

The party saved a tied-up human boy and searched the fallen goblins. One carried the [[campaigns:latitude_history:lore:sling-of-chance|Sling of Chance]], a strange weapon that would matter beyond that single skirmish. For a moment, the mission looked as if it might continue upriver toward the deeper ruins and the question of [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:thydal|Þýdal]].

Then [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:sanura-sefu|Sanura Sefu]]'s Sending reached [[campaigns:latitude_history:characters:mechakirby|MechaKirby]]: "Ásgeirr assassinated by poison. City destabilizing. Unknown killer at large. Your skills urgently needed in [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:nidaross|Niðaróss]]. Respond with status and estimated return."

The message ended the river-road mission. The party turned back before completing the wider reclamation, leaving the inland villages only partly answered. Later journeys, including the caravan to [[campaigns:latitude_history:places:selbu|Selbu]], followed the trail this mission could not finish.