The snow kept falling. Ki’Ger was becoming a prison of snow and fear. None dared clear the streets or walks for the dragon could strike from the milky sky. Locked in stasis, the tension set neighbor against neighbor; Waning resources stoking the smoldering tension.
The city’s Guardian had been seen fighting the dragon with the aid of lady Goshu. Neither had been seen in the aftermath. The storm masking all traces of the outcome.
At a Ryokan deep inside Ki’Ger, a plot was hatched. A pair of magic stones shared between Master Goshu and his wife Saretha, a prisoner of the dragon, provided a glimmer of hope that the dragon could be tracked to its place of hiding. Guided by devotion, Master Goshu and two of his students, took up the charge to seek out and destroy the dragon. Joined by a handful of outlanders staying at the inn, the group set out to end the nightmare.
Word of the heroic mission was slow to spread across the town. In due time the skies cleared. The winter sun gave courage to those who had been too long imprisoned. The guardian had not returned, but neither had the dragon. Hope was starting to embolden the actions of the people of Ki’Ger. Some returned to their regimen in spite of the danger.
Many took the arrival of a riderless horse as confirmation of failure by the missing heroes. Citizens once more cast their gaze to the sky, fearful of the dragon’s return. It was not a dragon that returned from the eastern marshes, but the very band of heroes, liberators.
Word spread across town like wildfire. The dragon had been defeated in its lair. The good news was tarnished however. Sorakara, the guardian of Ki’Ger, had perished in the fight along with two outlanders. These perished outlanders were in fact landed nobles from Dowry. Noblemen who paid with their lives to end the nightmare that gripped the isolated trade town.
In the months that followed, winter wrapped everything in a stasis. The machine of commerce continued to grind at a slow pace. Hearths warded off the cold, but no fire could chase away the chill left by the failed leadership in the days that followed the arrival of the airborne menace. A rumble of discontent rolled over the town during those wintery months.
Before winter released its grip on Ki’Ger another great change was about to befall the town. One cold winter morning the fog burned off before noon to reveal a line of soldiers choking the eastern road. Golden pennants tugging against the icy winds. The Kokorese army rode into town, the beleaguered town of Ki’Ger made no show of repelling the invaders.
Before long a new government had installed itself in place of the old. The merchant council was dismantled and their lodges replaced by a stone fortress. Ki’Ger was no longer wanting for a true guardian, the legitimacy they had secretly desired had arrived. It had only cost them everything.
The use of slates as a means of commerce was abolished in order to return control of monetary matters to the governing body. The menace known as “The Goblin” was rendered powerless by this measure and his influence was quickly forgotten.
As tradition demanded, the guardian is to share stewardship of a governed prefecture with a human counterpart. In this matter the people of Ki’Ger assumed that their new leader would come from a far off land and speak in a foreign tongue. Instead one of their own was raised up to a position of power.
Lady Kailu Hayashi, a liberator of Ki’Ger and bastard daughter to the Daimyo of Edarrow was raised to a station as a governess-in-regent by her estranged father. Her transition to full Governess to be confirmed by journeying to the capital in Edarrow.
Seeking to legitimize her claim to the throne, she along with an entourage of trusted associates, journeyed north into the realm of Haruto Kaysumoto, the 4th Daimyo of Edarrow.
In her stead Minister Sagoya, appointed by the Daimyo, presided over governance of Ki’Ger.
He was quick to fortify the trade town. Earthworks, fortified towers, and a healthy expansion of the town watch.
The changes did not go unnoticed by the neighboring monarchies. Early talks between the Regent and ambassadors from Pallidus appeared to end well enough. Assurances that local leadership would replace the ruling Regent when lady Hayashi returned, calmed the tense negotiations. Even still, there was a sense of mistrust that clouded every meeting.
Trade continued for two turns of season with no sign of the return of Lady Hayashi. With promises of local leadership unsatisfied, negotiations broke down. Soon the western planes were occupied by camps of soldiers from the powerful city-state of Pallidus. Tensions grew as war appeared to be eminent. The north-eastern powers soon weighed in on the land grab from the Three Kingdoms, sending their own forces to box in the mountain city and her army.
The surrounding armies demanded that the Regent stand down and surrender control of Ki’Ger or prove that the governess had been reinstalled.
Under siege and outnumbered, the Regent reached out to the people of Ki’Ger. A company was to be formed with the goal of entering the Three Kingdoms, discovering her whereabouts and return Lady Hayashi to Ki’Ger to avoid the impending war.